The soaring costs required to produce electric vehicles has led to even more layoffs as automaker Stellantis has announced it will close an assembly plant in Illinois in February, leaving hundreds of people unemployed.
According to a statement shared by CNN, the most impactful factor that forced the shutdown of the assembly plant is the ever-increasing costs associated with the production of EVs.
“Our industry has been adversely affected by a multitude of factors like the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the global microchip shortage, but the most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related to the electrification of the automotive market.”
Stellantis expects these layoffs to be long-term and seems set to make a major change in their production plans going forward, as shared by FOX Business.
“This difficult but necessary action will result in indefinite layoffs, which are expected to exceed six months and may constitute a job loss under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. As a result, WARN notices have been issued to both hourly and salaried employees. The company will make every effort to place indefinitely laid off employees in open full-time positions as they become available.”
Stellantis, the parent company for brands such as Chrysler, Jeep, and Dodge, says that closing the plant is part of a larger plant to “preserve affordability and customer satisfaction in terms of quality.”
This Illinois plant has been tasked with building the Jeep Cherokee, but the company’s spokesperson says there are no plans to discontinue the popular family car.
“This is an important vehicle in the lineup, and we remain committed long term to this mid-size SUV segment.”
According to Business Insider, the European Union’s new plan to reach zero emissions from automobiles by 2035 may also have played a role in the new direction that the company is set to take.
Critics have been quick to explain that not only is this plan unreasonable, but it might just be downright delusional. The Daily Wire’s Jordan Peterson was one such critic who took issue with the unrealistic date set by the EU.
“Just 1.4% of cars globally are electric and battery electric cars will make up less than 10% of total U.S. automobile stock by 2050.”
“Less than one-fifth of all global cars will be battery electric by 2050. We simply do not yet have electric tractors or heavy trucks or airplanes or ships and fossil fuel infrastructure that allows such machinery to operate”
With such a massively underdeveloped infrastructure for EV travel, it seems insane to believe that in just under 15 years the world’s vehicles could go anywhere near fully electric. Given the massive demands of society that require mass transportation of goods and people, these goals seem wildly unachievable.
In the meantime, companies will continue to attempt to pump out EVs at a growing rate, causing massive shifts in the demand for work at America’s largest automakers.
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