Skilling up for a world of zero emission vehicles

For a little light reading over the early Spring break, The Green Edge has been reviewing the wider world of electric vehicles (EVs). Here’s what we found.

Welcome back! We hope you all had a good Easter break. While you’ve been away, we’ve been boning up on the zero emission vehicle landscape - in particular, of course, electric vehicles (EVs). Recent trade journals, specialist and technical press and media, company websites, writings within our extended network, all that kind of stuff. We’ve published a summary of our review as a supporting post to this article, which you can find on the button below.

Regarding the skills and drivers shaping future job content in the EV space, we found some recurring themes. Here is our take on things…

Digital skills

The need for strong digital skills - whether coding, hardware, networks and infrastructure, data analysis, sensors, implementation and operation, user support or simply computer-savviness - are building across the whole EV landscape. From supply, manufacture, into operation and maintenance, we see major digital reskilling programmes taking place. Many companies - like some of the major car manufacturers, for example - are doing mass upskilling into subjects like Industry 4.0 and eMobility, both of which have high digital content. The workforces required for the new generation of gigafactories will drive the development of these new skill sets at scale.

The call for data skills will be huge - even bigger than they are already. As traditional maintenance and servicing morphs still further into data-generating diagnostic testing, increased calls will go out for data analysis skills as manufacturers track the performance of their fleets. In turn, these new data streams will be used to shape component design and development, and we see other applications such as insurance companies using them to further differentiate between ‘low risk’ and ‘high risk’ drivers. As fossil fuel tax revenues decline, much of the same data technology may be used for taxing based on road use. Sorry, drivers, they’re still going to tax you somehow.

The Internet of Things (IoT) will obviously have a huge part to play. The emerging driving context within smart cities will leverage IoT more and more, especially when linked to autonomous vehicles. This seems very evident in the colossal investment we see in vehicle navigation, vision recognition systems, traffic flow management and even LiDAR for self-driving vehicle control.

Health & Safety (H&S)

Digital skills are a key component of a multiskilled EV workforce, but we see other skills appearing as recurring themes in more catholic skillsets across the EV landscape.

One such area is enhanced H&S-related knowledge, particularly around high voltage battery systems. ICE vehicles work at high voltages but low currents - they can shock, but not electrocute. That’s not the case with EVs and their high DC currents. It’s also difficult to tell whether an EV is switched on or off - many EV and hybrid drivers will tell you that.

Right now in the UK, a shortage of car maintenance technicians with the ability to safely handle EVs and their high voltages is a significant problem. Companies like Halfords don’t seem to be waiting for IFaTE and are training up their own EV technicians like crazy. We see similar needs emerging for the blue-light services and breakdown companies pretty soon, if not already.

Power infrastructure skills

We see the emerging power infrastructure becoming a key area of enhanced skills development. The management and operation of battery charging stations and perhaps (if China is anything to go by in this regard) battery swapping stations will bring a new demand for skills. Multi-skilling across multi-power modes could well be a feature - perhaps including parallel hydrogen networks as well as the extended transitioning of carbon-based fuels (particularly if hybrids receive an extension, as companies like Nissan seem to be thinking they might).

The emerging infrastructure for zero emission vehicles is already starting to demand a change in skills. At present, this is most notable in urban areas. While it isn’t clear (to us, at least) how rural areas will be equipped with fuel recharging hubs, the expectation for zero-emission ranges to be extended up to 1,000 km for standard saloon EVs will certainly influence the development of the power infrastructure, and therefore the geographical distribution of the requisite skills. One for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to think about.

Mixing legacy and new skills

Almost certainly, we believe there will be an extended period of transition from ICE to zero emission vehicles. So, for at least 15 years - three times the half-life of the skillsets for many occupations - we’ll be adding to the more traditional electro-mechanical skills (which will never disappear altogether) those needed for battery and hydrogen based vehicles. We’re already seeing carbon-fuel suppliers entering the EV recharging market, as well as new entrants for EV charging, battery swapping and alternative fuels. Again, this all drives the need for multi-skilled staff, with a mix of legacy and ‘new’ - often specialising in one of the emerging technologies - skills.

Circular economy skills

Circular economy skills should - indeed, must - be a critical part of the zero emission vehicle landscape. Extensive recycling, reuse, sharing and even repurposing will develop for vehicles and, in particular, their batteries.

Recycling - the neanderthal of the circular economy - at least recovers the critical minerals. But while recycling processes are being refined and improved - for example, increasing speed and reducing the energy used during the recycling process - adding methods and skills for battery reuse and repurposing will move the whole thing up through the virtuous circles of the circular economy.

Wider knowledge requirements

And then, of course, there’s the case for increased public awareness. For the wider public, there’s clearly a need for more general levels of knowledge and awareness of the options for individual and family mobility. What options do we have? What’s best today and for tomorrow in cities? Likewise for rural areas?

As we see in other key parts of the net zero transition, like power and heating, a case can be made for teams of local experts - mobility ‘gurus’ with deep knowledge of what’s going on centrally with OZEV and others, but with even deeper knowledge of the local issues and opportunities. Probably supported by local authorities, these gurus would shape the debate and level of understanding of the options for local mobility. How best can local facilities and opportunities be harnessed to provide net zero mobility? How can net zero mobility be interwoven with local planning and with building standards? How can places of work be brought into the process to shape net zero mobility options? These things all need to be nutted out.

The whole thing calls for a concerted effort by central and local government. The stakeholder networks for transition and skills planning for net zero mobility are broad and deep. But we feel that local net zero transition mobility plans, supported by local mobility gurus, would steer the demand for future mobility and help us all make our own individual net zero decisions.

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