The global auto market is undergoing profound changes as technological advances impact everything from the products offered to the factories they are made in. The shift toward electric cars and trucks, just one of the many generational changes hitting the industry, is creating economic opportunities along the auto manufacturing value chain and its related industries while also disrupting legacy business models.
The transition to electric cars and trucks is forecast to create more jobs than it displaces.
- A net gain of 2 million jobs would be realized in 2035 if all new car and truck sales were electric, including tens of thousands union jobs in the automotive industry.
- Each job in an auto assembly plant creates over 7 additional jobs, and the expected growth of the new industries spurred by the rise of EVs is leading to a surge in investor capital in batteries, vehicle manufacturing, and charging stations.
- Federal investment in the transition to electric transportation would add $1.3 trillion to GDP and create over 10 million jobs as demand rises for electricity generation and transmission, battery and semiconductor production, and fast charging stations.
The shift to electric cars and trucks is well underway.
- The electric car and truck market now outpaces the auto industry in sales growth, and many automakers including Volkswagen, Ford and General Motors have committing to only selling electric models by 2040 or sooner.
- 25 countries, including China, France and the UK, along with various cities and states have also pledged to only sell electric cars and trucks.
- Over half of the global car fleet is expected to be electric by 2030 as electric cars and trucks should be cheaper than gas-powered vehicles in about five years.
- Even outside the auto industry proper, corporate investors are ramping up their investments in electric cars EV value chains.
The U.S. can support the auto industry jobs at risk by ensuring more vehicles, batteries, and parts are domestically produced.
- Digital and automated technologies are changing the face of the U.S. workforce regardless of electric vehicle growth, and have been a primary driver of manufacturing job loss over the last several decades. The transition to autonomous and digitized transport alone will impact up to 9.5 million U.S. jobs — more than 1 out of every 20 workers.
- To support U.S. autoworkers, suppliers, and communities, advocates are asking policymakers to recognize the inevitable shift to electric transportation, and enact policy to reduce the market share of complete vehicle imports while enticing automakers to build more vehicle and battery assembly facilities in the U.S.
- Lagging EV adoption in the U.S. has ceded leadership to the EU and China, which are capitalizing on the benefits of growing EV production and sales. Thanks to robust incentives, China is driving 41% of total EV sales worldwide and is home to 44% of all the world’s electric cars.