Building an electric car it is a different matter from what was done with cars with combustion engines. The transition will lead to fewer components (especially mechanical ones) and more electronics, with disruptive consequences on the organization of work in large factories. It will also be a geopolitical revolution, with the center of gravity of the automotive world that could shift, at least for the first time, to very different positions compared to the current ones.
From a market dominated until today by European brands, flanked by those of the United States and the South Korea-Japan duo, Chinese domination could result. China is favored by domination over the materials that make up batteries; low cost of production; by its firepower in terms of microchips and software. In short, everything seems to go in the direction of the Great Wall. There are two possible scenarios: on the one hand, the European recognition of a technological inferiority, also the result of a lack of joint planning; on the other hand, the chance to exploit the struggle to avoid climate change by revolutionizing their investments, bringing jobs back from Asia to the continent.
There are those who are pessimistic. For example Marco Bonometti, managing director of Omr and member of Confindustria. Al Sole 24 Ore said: “Focusing only on the electric car in Europe will be an economic and social catastrophe. Millions of jobs will be lost, obliterating a strategic sector for continental industry. Even the builders have understood this. The transition to electric mobility requires adequate availability of clean energy at competitive costs. We were promised renewable energy by 2030, today we don’t have enough energy to run factories. Instead, we should consider any traction that limits emissions, without excluding a priori. There is a lack of raw materials for the batteries, so we will have to depend on Asia, which will decide when, how and at what price to sell them to us. We need to rethink a new industrial policy in the light of recent geopolitical evolutions“. Europe needs to understand which side to take, and above all whether or not to choose its own path. With China, with the United States? Or possibly aloneready to defend its interests with a more united spirit?
If Europe were to succeed in building a technological and production pole capable of rebalancing the production of microchips, there could be positive effects on the entire geopolitical fabric. Think for example of Taiwan, a veritable semiconductor empire: if this place on the planet, the Taiwanese do not want it, were less crucial for the world economy, then China could have less interest in claiming a territorial presence.
There are also optimists: for example, those who build coils, rotors, stators. In Italy, those who are already in the electric motor sector are seeing very interesting growth. There could be the last chances of conversion, therefore, for those who resist in the auto mechanics sector. In fact, it is estimated that the components of an engine will drop from 1,400 to 200, with entire systems that will disappear if not for spare parts and the vintage car market, such as exhaust tailpipes and manual gearboxes.
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