Gas Engines, and the People Behind Them, Are Cast Aside for Electric Vehicles

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Fewer moving parts; fewer people needed to assemble those parts.

Bye-bye, lots of jobs.

This was in the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Powertrain engineers have been the rocks stars of the auto-engineering ranks. But the rapid shift to electric cars is marginalizing their trade. A deeper look at the industry disruption wrought by the EV transformation. https://wsj.com/articles/gas-engines-cast-aside-electric-vehicles-job-losses-detroit-11627046285?st=96p6abq8s4bo93s&reflink=desktopwebshare_twitter via
@WSJ

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Gas Engines, and the People Behind Them, Are Cast Aside for Electric Vehicles

Transition not yet noticeable in showrooms, but industry resources have shifted. ‘We’re trying to make things change pretty quickly’

By Mike Colias
https://twitter.com/MikeColias
[e-mail]
July 23, 2021 9:21 am ET

Steven Penkevich spent 36 years at Ford Motor Co. as part of an army of Detroit engineers who perfected the internal combustion engine, a technology dating back to the dawn of the automobile era. He developed gasoline engines for family sedans as well as thunderous Nascar racing machines.

By last year, though, the excitement was gone. His projects were no longer about advancing the engine, just nursing along existing technology. All the buzz had shifted to electric vehicles. In December, Mr. Penkevich took early retirement at age 59.

“It got to feel like you’re on a maintenance crew,” he said.

For more than a century, auto makers continually honed their gas and diesel engines, sparring over which had greater power, better fuel efficiency, more durability or delivered a smoother ride.

Now, some of the world’s biggest car companies are sending the combustion engine to the scrap heap and are pouring billions of dollars into electric motors and battery factories. Instead of powertrain specialists, they are hiring thousands of software engineers and battery experts.

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[-misanthroptimist]

1. Tough to find a good place to buy Conestoga wagons, too.

Technology moves on. Entire job fields come and go.

[CrispyQ]

2. Fascinating story.

Glad to hear R&D is going into new technology.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. GM, Ford, et al. have no choice. Evolve or die.

Were you able to read the whole story?

Thanks for writing.

[CrispyQ]

4. I got a little more of the article here, but to get the whole article you have to go to WSJ.

https://daily.energybulletin.org/2021/07/gas-engines-and-the-people-behind-them-are-cast-aside-for-electric-vehicles-wsj/

[elleng]

5. 'Progress'