Is anyone else afraid?

[Father Of Giants]

Electric cars will soon take over, that means hundreds of thousands of technicians and mechanics will be laid of.

I was reading some articles on electric car cost of operation and it's next to nothing. Even worse, I feel as though everything I'm studying at this moment is about the internal combustion engine might be a waste in about 10 or 15 years. Fuel trim, O2 monitoring, injector duty cycles, spark waveforms, injector waveforms etc.

Even in Europe, heavy equipment is moving towards electric and some of these machines can run for 7 hours on a charge.


The only field to look forward too is marine diesel since the electric technology has a long way to go for that industry. In short my end game has changed.

[Diseasel300]

Electric cars still use similar body electronics and mechanical suspensions as ICE powered cars, the only thing really going away is the ICE and the transmission/driveline. Battery powered cars are only a stop-gap solution anyway, the end result is likely to be electric, but it won't be batteries powering it. I, for one, am interested to see what the future holds.

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by Father Of Giants

Electric cars will soon take over, that means hundreds of thousands of technicians and mechanics will be laid of.

I was reading some articles on electric car cost of operation and it's next to nothing. Even worse, I feel as though everything I'm studying at this moment is about the internal combustion engine might be a waste in about 10 or 15 years. Fuel trim, O2 monitoring, injector duty cycles, spark waveforms, injector waveforms etc.

Even in Europe, heavy equipment is moving towards electric and some of these machines can run for 7 hours on a charge.


The only field to look forward too is marine diesel since the electric technology has a long way to go for that industry. In short my end game has changed.

The writing is on the wall. Better learn some new skills ASAP.

Originally Posted by Diseasel300

Battery powered cars are only a stop-gap solution anyway, the end result is likely to be electric, but it won't be batteries powering it. I, for one, am interested to see what the future holds.

LOL yeah just keep telling yourself that.

[Father Of Giants]

Originally Posted by tjts1

The writing is on the wall. Better learn some new skills ASAP.

LOL yeah just keep telling yourself that.

Time to be an electrician it looks like. Maybe HVAC.

[Squiggle Dog]

In my opinion, simple is good. I do admire the mechanical parts of the old diesel Mercedes, though, and enjoy the sound of the engine. I also like that I can drive my diesel as long as I want as long as I put fuel in the tank. Charging an electric car can take a while, but at some point charging an electric car might not take much longer than filling a tank with fuel.

I also like that electric cars are zero emissions, though the emissions from the facility that produces the electricity has to be considered, and also battery production and disposal. I'm not a fan of hybrid cars... pick a mood and stick with it. Haha.

I like that in theory an electric car is pretty much just a motor, battery, and brakes on wheels. SO many less parts to go wrong. But then any new car will have SO many gadgets that will still make them problematic anyway. And I really wish they would make new cars with the same vintage style with which they used to build cars. There isn't a single car built in recent times that I would ever consider owning based on the fact that I don't think any of them have very good styling (and they have too many parts).

[vwnate1]

There will always be a need for good Mechanics so put in the effort to actually learn how to understand, diagnose and repair things, most who make their living as Mechanics, are parts changers and are easily flummoxed by anything that scanner cannot diagnose for them .

Be aware that real Mechanicing involves getting dirty and using your brain a lot, often in really unpleasant surroundings .

OTOH, actually fixing things gives a great feeling of accomplishment .

FWIW, plumbers make far more # but, they have to work with excrement.....

? Why be afraid ? the future is not written , wait and see what happens next .

[GregMN]

2017 plug in electric vehicle market share of new vehicle sales = 1.13%

[vwnate1]

Yes but that's -only- because they've not yet cracked the battery nut ~ as soon as they have batteries that will allow 500 honest miles (lights, heater/AC & radio etc.) our beloved ICE vehicles were be obsolete .

Yes, it will of course take a few years but it'll change much faster than most realize or are willing to accept .

[tbomachines]

You'll be fine, just be open to adaptation. I'm sure the same arguments and fear were felt when fuel injection and ECU/module control were in the horizon too. I welcome the simplicity myself, but will always be the guy to tinker with something...

[tjts1]

Originally Posted by GregMN

2017 plug in electric vehicle market share of new vehicle sales = 1.13%

People pointed out similar statistics in the early days of internal combustion while missing the real story.

EV sales

[pawoSD]

It will likely be more than 15 years until any major shift happens in the employment market for mechanics. Also keep in mind almost all fields will be experiencing fairly heavy retirement rates in the coming decade too as baby boomers retire. This is happening in a lot of skilled trades already.

Electric vehicles will still need "servicing" as any other car does, they may just not need as much powertrain related servicing.

[Graham]

There was that recent study that said that electric cars would cause a greater demand for mechanics.

The reason given, was that many buyers will put off buying a new car because they realize that their next car will have to be an electric car. In th emeantime, they will continue to dive their ICE cars and they will need more repairs as they age.

In a way, even now, we have a problem. Technicians are trained to repair the current overly electronic cars. They plug them into a computer that tells them what it thinks is wrong. Those technicians are not much like the old school mechanics.

Where we live, I am afraid to take my 123 or 107 in for a repair so end up doing most jobs myself. Regular indies here know domestic cars, but not old Benzes. And at a dealer, besides cost, they don't know what to do because there is nowhere on my old cars to plug their computer into

[barry12345]

Originally Posted by Father Of Giants

Time to be an electrician it looks like. Maybe HVAC.

You live in north America. For a slew of reasons. The arrival of the electric car in quantity will probably be late here. My guess is we will be the last developed area of the world to really see them in high numbers. They are likely to be highly electronic in nature and even use heat pumps for heat and air conditioning.

When the arrive in numbers yes there will be changes. I still visualise a lot of service will be needed. The internal combustion engine will not likely phase out totally for a long time either. Anyways as soon as certified in whatever course of action you decide on.

Not all people can run their own business. Yet that is a direction to seek. It takes some fortitude and more learning. Yet to me having control of your own working destiny was important. Some people just are more cut out for doing it it than others.

The Chinese especially have been working on ways to get more energy density into batteries. The technology is still based on lithium so far. This is a semi dangerous technology. If a battery shorts internally the whole pack can ignite in a violent self sustaining eruption. There will be people incinerated in electric cars over time. It results in a self sustaining manner so technically you should not keep an electric vehicle in a garage attached to your house. Unless that garage is really fireproofed well beyond todays code requirements. With a sprinkler system to stop the spread of the car burning.

The future promise for alternate powered vehicles is very much dependent on man's eventual understanding of science. There exists energy sources that nobody really understands still. Other than the full awareness currently that they exist. Personally I find this odd that the knowledge of them is well proven. Still nobody yet has been able to determine how they function. My guess is Russia is intent on research in these areas. Where China is advancing so fast in artificial intelligence development. America has asked them to stop.

So if the discovery of what these unknown energy fprces are occurs. They may prove useful or not depending on a lot of factors. Remember from a historical perspective the electron always existed. Look how long man existed before it was well enough understood to work with it. In less than 100 years it has become a really signifigant item of continuous development. In applying it.


I was an electronic tech and the changes alone in my career where nothing less than mind boggling. I only worked in the field for about twenty five years. Just got tired of it and moved on to other fields.

[barry12345]

Originally Posted by Graham

There was that recent study that said that electric cars would cause a greater demand for mechanics.

The reason given, was that many buyers will put off buying a new car because they realize that their next car will have to be an electric car. In th emeantime, they will continue to dive their ICE cars and they will need more repairs as they age.

In a way, even now, we have a problem. Technicians are trained to repair the current overly electronic cars. They plug them into a computer that tells them what it thinks is wrong. Those technicians are not much like the old school mechanics.

Where we live, I am afraid to take my 123 or 107 in for a repair so end up doing most jobs myself. Regular indies here know domestic cars, but not old Benzes. And at a dealer, besides cost, they don't know what to do because there is nowhere on my old cars to plug their computer into

Yes I was around when the truly old time mechanics phased out. The mechanics that replaced them would not be cognizant of many tricks of the trade they used. For example the good ones had developed amazing intuition on what the problem probably was. There was never a charge for diagnostics.

I personally feel the expectation of being overbilled for a shop repair is semi justified. I do realize that everyone has to make a living at the same time. Yet many of the bills are way past what they should be in reality. The only satisfaction I see if it is even that. Some service facilities have basically no customers anymore. Down from eight bays and eight mechanics in one case locally I am aware of. To just two mechanics working there now. .In just the last three years.

[Mark123]

With all due respect, I just have to point out to vwnate1, plumbers seldom deal with human waste. Maybe a few repair guys once in awhile or the unlicensed drain cleaner dudes. The decent wages come from the ability to install the piping systems that make buildings livable. I speak from 40 years experience. A good plumber has the same skillset as a good mechanic. Just applied to something else. So why are not auto mechanics compensated at the same rate? Because they haven't demanded it? As I think about that used motor oil from my 300D, which brown stuff is actually more toxic.?