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The United States' EV Industrial Transformation
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Global electric vehicle (EV) sales have surged in the past year. Across the United States, Europe and China demand for cars powered solely by batteries have reached a demand, so high, manufacturers require buyers to place a deposit month in advance while some models are sold out for the next two years.

As EV mania takes hold of the US market, automakers are beginning to sell EV versions of Americans’ favorite vehicle: the pickup truck. Traditionally the least fuel-efficient vehicle, the expansion to electric pickups marks a significant shift in both manufacturing and anticipated consumer preferences in the US.  

At the end of 2021 EV sales only accounted for less than 9 percent of the automotive market, but speculators anticipate 2022 will be the year EVs jump in market percentage. In fact, the auto industry is on track to invest half a trillion dollars in the next five years to make the transition to electric vehicles. In the United States alone, companies are planning on opening more than twelve new electric car and battery factories.

“It’s one of the biggest industrial transformations probably in the history of capitalism,” says Scott Keogh, chief executive of Volkswagen Group of America.

Of course, this industrial transformation will affect more than just automakers and car consumers. The broader economic and environmental impacts stand to be even larger. Those producing products used by internal combustion vehicles are likely to face a dramatic decline in demand. Fuel injection systems, mufflers and other parts are at risk of becoming obsolete as the EV market continues to grow. As the economy stands now, this aspect of the industrial transformation will leave many jobless.  Globally, ingredients like lithium, nickel and cobalt could become more in demand than oil. Over time, as priorities shift so will the job market, however in the short term not all industries will survive.

Unlike the economy the environmental impacts will predominately be long-term. While areas like Southern California, where EV are more popular than other areas of the US, have begun enjoy improved air quality, it will take time to see broader climate benefits from EVs. As the full transition from fossil-fuel cars to electric is likely to take decades, so are the environmental benefits.

Americas’ transition to EV has just begun. While automakers are beginning to catalyze this change, the economic and environmental effects have yet to take shape. Automakers that react to EV trends sooner and the environment are likely to be big winners in this industrial transformation, however it will also undoubtably create big loses for industries dependent on fossil-fuel.  

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