How to pollute less? The question is at the heart of the 26th UN climate conference, COP26, which begins Sunday, October 31. One of the auto industry’s answers to this question is the electric car. Heavy trucks in this industry in the United States are increasingly relying on these vehicles. Corn the shortage of semiconductors is a problem.
In the United States, Tesla is leading the way
Semiconductor shortages continue to plague the industry in the United States. This is the case, in particular, for the two largest American manufacturers: General Motors and Ford. Already heavily affected by Covid-19 and plant closures, companies are now idling because of the lack of these famous semiconductors. The balance sheets of the two companies were unveiled this week. Minus 25% of sales for General Motors in the third quarter and minus 40% for the manufacturer’s net profit. Ford is doing better with sales down 5%.
Still, the two Detroit companies are quite optimistic. “The situation has clearly improved”, assures Ford. The same goes for General Motors. The two behemoths are increasingly relying on the construction of electric vehicles. General Motors, in particular, plans to launch 30 models by 2025 and Ford has announced the creation of 11,000 jobs within 4 years in the electric sector.
A transition to electric in order to get closer to another American manufacturer: Tesla. Elon Musk’s company produces far fewer vehicles but has overtaken this week the $ 1,000 billion in capitalization. That’s 13 times more than General Motors, 17 times more than Ford. This is thanks to an astronomical order for 100,000 vehicles by the rental company Hertz.
General Motors hopes to catch up with Tesla in the number of electric vehicles sold in the next five years. For now, this category only represents about 3% of sales in the United States. The transition is underway but it is only the beginning. The White House wants to give it a boost. The massive investment plan wanted by Joe Biden thus provides, among other things, for the construction of 500,000 charging stations across the country. In the meantime, semiconductor shortages that are expected to continue into 2022 continue to plague the auto industry and the US economy.
Japan ahead of the transition to electric
In Japan, too, the shortage of semiconductors is a problem. In the country, the question of the transition to electric cars also arises. The stakes are high for the Japanese auto sector even if it is true that it has taken a considerable lead. There is no diesel in Japan and Toyota has been producing hybrid cars for over 20 years. All manufacturers are also struggling to make production techniques less polluting.
But as the government keeps raising the targets sharply, they are still far from the mark, as Seiichi Nagatsuka, vice-present of the Automobile Manufacturers Association, recently pointed out: “The Japanese automotive sector has taken the lead in expanding the range of electrified cars and has reduced CO2 emissions by 23% in 20 years. But now, what we are being asked to do is reduce even more. that much by 2030, that’s really a really big challenge. ” He specifies that, of course, everything will be done to achieve this, but that this will not be done without support.
Car manufacturers are in fact almost forced to change jobs. What they fear above all is that the debate is badly posed. The enemy is carbon, it is not the combustion engine, insists for example Akio Toyoda, the CEO of Toyota defender of hybrids to ensure the transition over the entire life cycle of automobiles. “I hear politicians say that we only have to manufacture electric cars. But it’s different. For an exporting country like Japan, carbon neutrality poses a problem for jobs”, he judges. “Half of the 10 million automobiles produced annually in Japan are exported. will no longer be able to be. And if so, a large part of the 5.5 million workers in the sector risk losing their jobs. “, he worries.
He is not against the electric, but believes that the transition is poorly thought out. That is to say that the carbon footprint of vehicles is not measured only by the type of engine they embark but also by the mode, conditions and places of manufacture, the context of use and other specific contingencies. to each country, and that these aspects cannot be neglected.