The simplicty of electric cars will lead to the eliminatation of 10,000 or more jobs at Volkswagen Group, according to Karlheinz Blessing, VW's human resources chief.

Blessing says job loss will be a five-digit number due to the fact that electric motors require far less workers than do combustion engines.

Volkswagen I.D.

According to Blessing, VW won't dismiss workers, but rather will phase them out due to retirement over the next decade or so. These retiring workers, in the engine assembly-production area, won't be replaced as the shift to electric motors will significantly reduced the number of workers needed in this field.

Volkswagen is exploring another option though. This option would require the hiring of new workers if approved by management.

What option is this? Currently, VW is considering entry into the battery production segment. If approved, VW would go on a hiring spree to get new workers for the various tasks involved with battery design, testing, production, assembly and so on.

Quoting Blessing:

"If 30 percent of the value creation will be in the battery system in future, it is right to consider whether we will step in and to what extent. We cannot leave that to others."

Source: Reuters