Policy-makers relying on electric vehicles to be a source of net new jobs (after subtracting the jobs lost by conventional automakers, and to Chinese manufacturers) are likely to be disappointed.
I’ve mentioned this a few times, including here, but this is another story to add to the pile (my emphasis added):
Ford has selected its Spanish plant to make battery cars and will cease vehicle production at a rival site in Germany as the carmaker reshuffles its European factories ahead of going all-electric in the region.
The US carmaker also plans “significant” staffing cuts, even at the Spanish plant in Valencia because electric cars need fewer staff to build them, it said on Wednesday…
Ford’s new in-house system will be used in factories globally, but the company expects to have only one European production centre for the vehicles that use the technology.
Ford’s European president Stuart Rowley said Ford was “seeking alternative opportunities . . . both in Ford and outside of Ford”, for the German site, but added that the US carmaker “does not have additional product at this point in time” to make at the site when the current car, the Ford Focus, ends production in 2025.
But even in Valencia, which has 6,000 staff, there will be a significant number of job reductions.
“We will need to restructure both of our plants in Saarlouis and Valencia to compete against existing incumbents and new competitors,” Rowley said. “We will require less employees to build new electric vehicles.”
Here are some comments from the CEO of Stellantis, the fifth largest automaker in the world (formed as a result of the merger between Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot). They date from January 2022. Biased? Perhaps, but I suspect that he knows what he is talking about:
“What is clear is that electrification is a technology chosen by politicians, not by industry,” Tavares told a handful of European newspapers in a joint interview. “Given the current European energy mix, an electric car needs to drive 70,000 kilometres to compensate for the carbon footprint of manufacturing the battery and to start catching up with a light hybrid vehicle, which costs half as much as an EV (electric vehicle).”
A technology chosen by politicians. What could go wrong?
But at least the electricity grid is in good shape to cope with the increased demand.
Isn’t it?