If everything goes according to plan, all new cars go on sale in UK and EU will run entirely on electricity by 2035. Large overseas market will phase out ICE-equipped cars and be ready for the mass transition to electric vehicles, but experts warn that there may not be enough mechanics to service them, as CNBC report.
The UK’s Institute of the Automotive Industry, a trade group whose members work in the automotive sector, said there is a significant skills gap in the workforce that will be difficult to bridge over the next few years; Currently there don’t seem to be enough technicians with “appropriate qualifications to work on electrified vehicles,” according to CNBC.
This could ultimately lead to a shortage of EV technology and mechanics that could undermine the argument that EVs will save owners. money ABOVE MAINTENANCEAt least until there are enough mechanics to switch from servicing cars with internal combustion engines to cars running on high-voltage batteries and electric motors.
As of now, IMI says about 16% of technicians in the UK are qualified to work safely on electric vehicles. Although the IMI did not specify how much technology will be developed, the association goes on to say that the number of workers needed to be trained to work on electric vehicles will be 77,000 by 2030 and will increase to 89,000 by 2020. 2032. This means that thousands of workers will be needed even before switching to electric vehicles abroad in 2035.
In fact, the skills gap will manifest in the form of worker shortages long before that: IMI predicts there won’t be enough EV mechanics by early 2029, which will drive up EV maintenance costs. The popularity of electric vehicles will create a lot of work for just a handful of workers, and that smaller group of professionals will likely charge for their services, among other things. Each CNBC:
[…] Steve Nash, CEO of IMI, told CNBC that there are “a number of potential problems.”
“One is a matter of convenience when people have to go much further than they would like to find someone with the right qualifications to do the job,” he said.
“The other is likely to be expensive because, of course, there is more demand and fewer people around [to work on the vehicles] …that can also affect maintenance costs.”
To avoid a shortage of EV mechanics, IMI said governments should step in with funding that would pay to train or educate a new skilled workforce. Or to help retrain or retrain mechanics who have been working on cars powered by internal combustion engines for years. It may not be as simple as people believe due to the difference in EV servicing and maintenance, maybe less complicated than ICE, but no less dangerous:
“But fundamentally, electric cars are completely different from internal combustion engine cars,” he said.
“So someone who has spent a lifetime working with an internal combustion engine can’t simply switch from one engine to another.”
“And there are inherent risks associated with that because… electric cars operate at very high voltages.”
Safety issues will be a major concern, especially when a shade tree repairman or other independent shops will provide cheaper maintenance without training or manuals. appropriate safety procedures.
Not to mention that skilled workers will be needed not only in service bays but also on assembly lines where EV batteries and motors are made. As well as the workers needed to build and install the infrastructure to charge all of these new electric vehicles. That’s why trade groups are calling on the state – or the federal government, in the case of the US – to shoulder some of the burden.
