The electrification of mobility and transportation will continue to accelerate because industry, business, and society at large are accepting the clear reality that the industrialized world must eventually move away from burning fossil fuels. But nowhere will the impact of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) be felt more immediately and expansively than in the global automotive industry.
Options for both individual transportation and more flexible human mobility are being electrified at a rapid pace, with an increasing number of all types of traditionally fossil-fueled vehicles making the transition to electrification. ARC Advisory Group research indicates that this trend will continue to accelerate well into this decade and beyond.
With more all-electric vehicles now hitting the personal vehicle market, the growth is also surging in trucks, buses, and industrial/agricultural vehicles. While it will be difficult to accurately predict future sales of BEVs, a combination of increasing demand for more environmentally friendly vehicles and government mandated restrictions in emissions is compelling automotive OEMs to significantly increase production rates. The shift from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to BEVs will have a profound and transformational effect on automotive manufacturing operations and their suppliers. Moreover, this shift will significantly impact global automotive industry employment patterns.
The flood of BEVs rolling out over this decade will have much fewer parts and assemblies than today’s gas-powered cars and trucks. Moreover, there will be a complete shift from the powertrain manufacture of ICE vehicles to BEVs, not to mention battery assemblies and other electrical systems and components; and that will radically change the automotive production processes, manufacturing technologies, the overall automotive supply chain, and the car-making workforce. This transformational shift will most certainly cause some disruptions to the industry, but it will also afford opportunities to reinvest in U.S. manufacturing as companies move to a green economy.
Read more: Battery Electric Vehicles Bring Transformational Changes to Automotive Manufacturing
