German push to ban combustion cars by 2030 wins support

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A switch to sales of only zero-emission cars puts thousands of German auto industry jobs at risk since the powertrain of an electric car requires only a tenth of the staff to be assembled when compared with a combustion-engined equivalent

...and this is where it will get really interesting, politically.
 
Interesting indeed. Germany had unemployment sharply rise after reunification, simply because all the former ex-DDR residents who had a job whether it was actually needed or not suddenly found themselves the victims of a non-government-run economy. Quick Google searches show that their unemployment rate is currently the lowest it has ever been since reunification.

Having no ICEVs will not just mean fewer assembly-line workers; it also means fewer people needed to maintain them. So support industries like vehicle service centers will also shed workers, not to mention companies who make consumables for ICEVs like oil filters and various fluids that need frequent replacement. Needless to say, petrol stations and their employees will become redundant.

Speaking of which, taxes on motor fuel in Germany (like most of Europe) are quite high, so not buying fuel is going have a detrimental effect on their tax base. (We're already seeing that here, with various proposals to not just increase the fuel tax which has not kept up with inflation and increasing vehicle fuel economy, but a few states even add an additional flat tax to BEVs since they don't use fuel at all.) The Germans are proud of the high level of maintenance on their roadways, and EVs currently are heavier than identically-sized ICEVs, so having an EV-rich environment is going to put a bigger strain on the maintenance of those roadways.

I also saw on a show how motor vehicles are Germany's biggest product export, further showing just how vulnerable their workforce is should this industry start eliminating a lot of jobs.
 
It will be interesting to see the outcome of some of the universal basic income experiments. Hard to imagine a future without it. That definitely won't solve your tax problem though! lol
 
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