EVs in Ohio: An Issue of Politics or Practicality?
BY NICK ROGERS
WARRENSVILLE - As the Biden administration pushes forward with its goals of greatly increasing electric vehicle (EV) production by 2030, the issue has quickly become one of party line division. Formerly flourishing auto plants producing gas-powered cars have steadily shuttered their Ohio doors since the 1970s, tearing at the fabric of families and communities. Unionization – a commonly politically divisive issue – lies at the heart of whether or not EV production can become viable as a job producer, but perhaps an even bigger question looms: is EV production practical in the long-term?
A widely referenced estimate states that the production of EVs will require 30% to 40% less labor. This estimate, however, has received much “debunking” in recent times.
Carnegie Mellon researcher Turner Cotterman co-authored a report on EV production. Cotterman said, “There was an assumption that there is a linear relationship between the number of parts and the labor to make them.” The report found that, despite there being fewer individual parts in an EV compared with an internal combustion engine car, there is actually slightly more labor involved.
Nathan Niese, of Boston Consulting Group, holds a similar opinion.
“When you look, like for like, at the vehicle today – an electric vehicle versus [internal combustion] – there is on the order of a percent or a couple percent difference, in the labor hours required to manufacture that vehicle,” Niese said.
The journal Nature Communications and the International Council on Clean Transportation both reached similar conclusions, flying in the face of Donald Trump’s adamant claim that EV production will kill jobs.
The encouraging new findings did not bode well, however (at least at the start), for unionized auto workers, as most new EV plants – including Tesla and Honda – have resisted unionization.
A breakthrough came in 2023 when the United Auto Workers (UAW) union – under their new president Shawn Fain – went on strike; a move that resulted in newly adopted deals with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis. A “joint-venture” EV battery plant (co-owned by General Motors and LG), Ultium Cells – located in Warren, Ohio – broke ground in 2020, began production in 2022 and, after a deal was finalized in June, unionized its workforce.
Lisa Moore, a worker at Ultium Cells, now makes $30 per hour compared to the $16.50 she made when the plant first opened.
“It’s the future,” Moore said. “And there is no stopping us.”
Lordstown Ohio’s General Motors plant once boasted 10,000 workers but maintained only 1,500 at the time of its closing in 2019. The plant, now devoid of workers, sits less than three miles away from Ultium Cells. The site is now owned by Foxconn, a Taiwanese company that plans on building electric cars in the future.
UAW president Fain – an outspoken supporter of the Harris/Walz ticket, spoke in Minnesota on their campaign tour and, soon after that, he appeared at the Democratic National Convention.
“Donald Trump said nothing and did nothing to help auto workers,” Fain said. “Donald Trump is all talk and Kamala Harris walks the walk.”
As the issue of EV production and unionization becomes increasingly more partisan, the ironically named Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) plans to invest $7.5 billion toward the goal of making 50% of all new cars produced by 2030 electric. But the question remains: Is the future of EV production in this country practical?
BIL lays out a plan of installing 500,000 public EV charging stations by 2030 but, according to the McKinsey Institute, the country would require 1.2 million public charging stations and 28 million private charging stations. The institute estimates a $35 billion cost for the hardware, planning, and installation of such infrastructure. Current EV charging infrastructure, says the institute, requires 11 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), whereas the needed infrastructure would soar to 230 billion kWh.
The latter is an ominous estimate for Ohio as recent PJM energy auction prices have skyrocketed.
Diving into EV production and the rollout of public charging infrastructure can arguably be viewed as a giant gamble, as EV ownership in the US is miniscule compared to that of China and Europe. Currently, the US represents only 17% of the world’s total stock of EVs.
Then there is the issue of affordability. Only five EV models under $40,000 came to market in the US in 2024. Most Americans cannot afford EVs and their most important component: home charging stations. Most public EV charging stations operate during the day, the time when kWh prices are higher.
Fast direct-current (DC) public charging stations are currently sporadic in location and concentrated in upper class areas. They are expensive but would be necessary for drivers in need of staying on the road for long hours with little break time. Home charging stations – where cars can be charged overnight – are the most practical solution, but these can hardly be viewed as currently viable for the large segment of the US population living at or below the poverty line and/or in apartment complexes, barring extensive private investment.
“Net Zero” by 2050 is a serious globalist goal based on the fundamental theory that carbon dioxide is the main cause of continuing catastrophic climate change (the dogma has been adopted by governments worldwide), despite a growing number of outspoken scientists and researchers disagreeing with mainstream consensus. This author is one of those in strong disagreement.
Greater context aside – viewing the future of EV production in the US through a strictly practical and economical lens – the future of the industry seems uncertain at best.
From an employment perspective, with the UAW’s recent victory and a positive EV production forecast by mainstream institutes via studies and data projections, there appears to be a decent amount of hope for long-tenured auto workers seeking new employment in this new sector of their industry. But the question remains: is Ultium Cells an anomaly or a microcosm of a thriving EV industry to come? Only time will tell.
