Will electric cars lead to job losses for auto workers?

According to media reports, Audi is cutting jobs to fund research in electric cars and Mercedes-Benz is also cutting jobs as lowering carbon dioxide emissions and building hybrid & electric cars are too expensive.

By 2025, Audi is expected to cut 9,500 jobs in Germany. The carmaker also said that focusing on electric cars could create up to 2,000 jobs. Mercedes is expected to cut more than 1,000 jobs in management and administrative roles.

Jobs in production and service are also expected to be lost as electric cars have just 1 moving part. Putting together motors and batteries is not as complicated as building internal combustion engines. Lesser moving parts mean they are easier to build and require less maintenance. It takes less to keep electric cars on the road as compared to conventional cars.

However, today's mechanical jobs could be replaced by jobs that require a different skill set, like battery engineering or chemical engineering. It is said that battery engineering is in short supply. The report suggests that Germany has reported a 40 billion-euro package to support those who lose out on its plan to phase out coal. It includes adding public service jobs.

Source: 1, 2, 3, 4