Growth in electric powertrain manufacturing kills diesel and jobs

With the ongoing push for zero-emissions vehicles together with increasing cost to make clean emissions from diesel engines, Groupe PSA (Peugeot) has been ramping up production of electric powertrains to meet the demand for its range of electric vehicles (EV). 

Its manufacturing plant in Trémery, France, has been producing internal combustion engines since 1979. With the addition of the electric powertrain production line in late 2019, the Trémery plant is the only Groupe PSA plant in the world today that can produce all types of powertrains.

From less than 10% of output in 2020, electric powertrain production at Trémery will double to around 180,000 in 2021, and is planned to reach 900,000 units a year - or more than half the plant’s peak pre-pandemic output - by 2025.

However, there is a downside to this transition. It is reported that due to the simplicity of the electric powertrain, it only requires 20% of parts of a traditional turbodiesel engine. Fewer parts mean less manual labour and the reality of resource optimization (job cuts).

French car lobby group PFA estimates that 15,000 jobs linked to the production of diesel engines are at risk in France, out of 400,000 employed by the industry as a whole. 

Meanwhile, German labour research institute IAB says that the transition to EV could threaten 100,000 jobs in Germany alone, over 10% of the workforce employed by the German automotive industry.