U.S. auto plants producing battery electric vehicles have required a larger workforce than traditional internal combustion engine plants—a finding that runs counter to early predictions about how EVs would impact the industry. Researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that plants in the ramp-up stages of transitioning to full-scale EV production saw that 10 times more workers are needed to assemble every vehicle. And at one plant studied, now with over a decade of EV production, the total number of workers needed to make each vehicle has remained three times higher.
