Electric vehicles have seen a sweeping increase in the last few years, and all of the metrics indicate that they will only grow in popularity. There is a great appeal in a greener, cleaner method of transportation, but the surge of electric vehicles does lead mechanics to wonder how their careers will be impacted. In this article, we discuss how electric cars affect mechanics and the future of the industry.
The Benefits of Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles wouldn’t be as popular as they are without a significant list of benefits. For starters, they provide a smoother experience on the road and have sleek almost futuristic designs. These are just the surface level benefits, however. Perhaps most important is the fact that electric vehicles are more energy efficient—as much as 85–90% efficient.
This efficiency is tremendously beneficial for drivers. It means major savings on fuel, averaging out around $800 every year, and the use of renewable energy, avoiding fossil fuel consumption. This in turn leads to reduced emissions. In fact, electric cars are nearly emission free, which is the reason so many legislative entities are so keen on them.
Maintenance for electric vehicles is also less expensive as electric cars need significantly less of it. Oil changes, muffler repair, and replaced timing belts and spark plugs are a thing of the past, and electric vehicles run more cleanly, cause less wear and tear.
While electric vehicles are great for drivers and the planet, they don’t have the same appeal for mechanics, especially as we gain greater evidence for how electric cars affect mechanics’ job outlook.
Servicing Electric Vehicles
Servicing electric cars is a multifaceted process. In some ways, they still require traditional maintenance. Electric vehicles still need their tires rotated, their transmission fluid cycled, their suspension and brakes checked, and their windshield wipers replaced. In this sense, electric cars affect mechanics minimally, but that’s about where the status quo stops.
While some of the components of electric vehicles are the same as those of traditional combustion engine vehicles, they have significantly fewer moving parts, approximately 100 times fewer. While traditional cars have about 2,000 moving parts, electric vehicles only support about 20. Of the parts that are removed, many are mechanics’ usual bread and butter:
- Fewer fluids, so no oil changes
- No engine, so no gaskets, cylinders, fuel filters, or fuel injectors
- No emissions, so no exhaust system or catalytic converter
- No belts, hoses, or chains
Because of the nature of electric operation, electric vehicles need less maintenance anyway, independent of fewer parts. Combustion is necessarily a very explosive process, and the engine and the rest of the vehicle take most of that backlash. Electric vehicles don’t have that problem, so the wear and tear is significantly reduced.
The same is true of the brakes. Electric vehicles use regenerative braking, a process that converts energy from the brake pads into electricity to recharge the battery. All of these features combine so electric cars affect mechanics by giving them less to do.
Most of the maintenance electric cars require is of the software variety. Computer programming will be more relevant for such vehicles than traditional nuts and bolts knowhow. This will require a pretty dramatic adjustment of how mechanics operate.
How Will Electric Cars Affect Mechanics’ Work?
As mentioned above, the population of electric vehicles will only continue to grow. States like California are pushing to stop the production of new combustion engine vehicles entirely in the next 15 years. This will have a tremendous impact on mechanics in the workforce. In fact, the estimates for California anticipate that nearly 32,000 mechanics will lose jobs by 2040 if new combustion engine vehicles are discontinued.
This is a frightening prospect for many in the automotive industry, but others have a hopeful view on how electric cars affect mechanics’ job outlook. Instead of looking at autocare as a dying trade, they consider the change as a chance to get out of their comfort zones and learn a new way of servicing cars. In their minds, the job hasn’t shrunk, it has expanded.
This is born out by the fact that, in order to service electric vehicles, mechanics must maintain their fundamental expertise in mechanics in addition to adding an understanding of software engineering. Those who can adapt become a valuable asset and are often paid more. Maintenance of electric vehicles is becoming a mandatory requirement in many tech schools. Truly, a hybrid model is the way of the future.
Some mechanics, especially veterans of the industry, are electing to maintain the same work instead of learning the ropes of the new kind of car. This is understandable, since learning a whole new skill set can be difficult. Traditional vehicles with combustion engines are not going away any time soon, so this reticence in some may not be a problem. However, in order to stay relevant in the changing climate, it is wise to keep up with the changing times and embrace, not fight, how electric cars affect mechanics.
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