EV BRINGS WORK FOR AUTOMAKERS

Ford to Hire 7,000 Workers to Help Manufacture Electric, Hybrid Vehicles
Keith Naughton, January 10, 2011 (Bloomberg News)

"Ford Motor Co., revealing three new electric or hybrid vehicles to the public…, plans to hire more than 7,000 workers in the next two years, including engineers with expertise in battery-powered cars…Ford will hire 4,000 factory workers and 750 engineers this year and add 2,500 hourly workers next year …

"Ford will recruit engineers…at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit…[while] debuting the Focus Electric car, the C-Max Energi plug-in hybrid and the C-Max Hybrid gasoline-electric wagon…The automaker has said electric and hybrid vehicles may account for as much as 25 percent of its sales by 2020…"

Increasing sales means more and more work (click to enlarge)

"Automakers are developing models powered all or in part by electricity to meet standards such as the U.S. rules for average fuel economy by company of 35.5 mpg in 2016, up from 25 mpg now.

"Demand for hybrids has waned…[It] peaked at 3.3 percent of the U.S. market in 2008, when gasoline topped $4 a gallon. With fuel prices down about 25 percent from their peak, hybrids accounted for 2.4 percent of U.S. auto sales last year…Hybrids accounted for 1.8 percent of Ford’s U.S. sales last year, even though its Fusion is the most fuel-efficient midsize gas-electric sedan on the market…"