That’s the topic tackled in a Detroit News article this week. What stands out in the article is that the development of EVs drove the United Autoworkers Union to issue a report this year outlining the implications of EVs on employment and how to address these implications. The UAW suggests that as many as 35,000 engine and transmission plant jobs could be eliminated just with Detroit’s three automakers. In fact in Autonomy, the book by Larry Burns about the quest to build the driverless car, Burns describes the moment he exposed GM’s CEO (Rick Wagoner) to the components in an electric vehicle compared to a conventional, internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicle. “With just one-tenth the parts, the electric vehicle was a lot easier to make. Not only did an EV have far few parts, it also had far fewer moving parts than a conventional automobile.” And as Burns further described, the scale of manufacturing an EV versus a gas powered vehicle was drastically different. Additionally it was determined that EVs would require one-tenth the number of employees to assemble.
Do Electric Vehicles Change Automotive Manufacturing?
