Comprehensive Assessment of Job Impacts and Skill Gaps of Transitioning from ICE to Electric Trucks
Globally, road vehicles contribute 20% of CO2 emissions, yet trucks, which account for less than 1% of total road vehicles, contribute around 35% of those emissions. India's automotive sector plays a significant role in the country's economy, contributing 7.1% to GDP and providing direct and indirect jobs to approximately 1.9 crore people. With rising demand for mining, construction, infrastructure, and freight transportation, heavy-duty truck production is expected to increase significantly in India.
The automotive industry is undergoing heavy automation under Industry 4.0 implementation. Emerging technologies such as ZETs have further added to the wave. The ICE to e-truck transition includes the sophistication of auto components with increased power electronic and software contents. The impact of such a technologically intensive upgrade has raised a need for complete overhaul of skilling in the Indian trucking industry. Currently, a 32 million strong workforce is employed in the automotive sector. As per industry estimates, more than 80% of the trucking sector workforce is from the unorganized sector which makes skilling of the trucking ecosystem more challenging.
The study aims to evaluate the job impacts and skill gaps of transitioning from ICE heavy-duty trucks to ZETs in India through extensive research in four key hubs—Delhi/NCR, Chennai, Pune, and Bengaluru. The study compares lithium-ion battery-powered electric trucks above 12 tonne GVW with ICE trucks to identify components that will be replaced, modified, or phase out while transitioning to ZETs.
Objectives of the study:
- Identification of the electric truck value chain and relevant stakeholders affected by the transition.
- Identification of new, modified, and the phasing out truck system components while transitioning to ZET.
- Analysis of skills in the present ICE industry, skill gaps, current scenario of jobs and job impact in the trucking sector due to ZET transition while assessing the socio-economic factors of the present workers in the ICE industry.
- Skill-building programmes needed to upskill stakeholders involved in this shift and bridge the skill gap to ensure a seamless transition to ZETs.
The study finds that while transitioning to electric trucks the most impacted workforce includes those engaged in unorganized service and operations, blue collared workforce in MSME, workforce engaged in the manufacturing and assembly of ICE components. Electric trucks are simply ‘Computer on wheels’ and require enhanced skills in power electronic, EVs require software expertise in domain like sensors, Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, analytics, and AI for real-time decision-making to digitize end-to-end processes. There shall be more requirement of more qualified and digitally skilled blue-collar workforce for the ZETs. The training in the technical, analytical, regulatory and sustainability domains are crucial for holistic skilling for electric trucks. Most of the truck repair and maintenance shall be formalized.
32% of existing job roles will have a severe impact of the transition and therefore upskilling is essential for their retention in the sector while transitioning to ZETs. On the other hand, 50% of existing job roles will have a moderate impact and will be able to adapt to the ZET transition with reskilling initiatives. Further, 15% of new job roles in EV charging, battery manufacturing etc. are expected to be generated with the transition, as most of the existing workforce associated with the ICE trucks will be able to fill the requirement with timely reskilling and upskilling initiatives. It was further noted that 3% of job roles like HR, administration, accounts, etc. shall have a neutral impact and can function with basic sensitization on the ZETs without any substantial skilling requirement.
The workforce needs to be upgraded by providing suitable skill enhancement programmes. The focus should also be around dealing with the consequences of informality, creating alternative livelihoods, ensuring gender-sensitive development, and enhancing social infrastructure for a smooth and just transition. Long-term collaborations between industry, government, and academia are the key to effective skilling. The report further details out the action items to promote skilling in trucking ecosystem in India.