UAW strike began on September 14thth If the 146,000 UAW union members ask for a 46% wage increase, a 40-hour payday on a 32-hour work week, and the restoration of traditional pensions, they will likely get one of two outcomes, both of which are the death of the automobile. It can perpetuate the spiral. industry.
1. Rising U.S. manufacturing costs will further increase the cost of EVs, which are already out of reach for most people, and/or
2. Higher U.S. manufacturing costs may require more manufacturing overseas, which could decimate U.S. domestic manufacturing.
UAW members are not intimidated by the death spiral already imposed on the auto industry. The few healthy and wealthy countries, the US, Germany, UK, and Australia, which represent 6 percent of the world’s population (505 million vs. 7.8 billion), are transforming their societies to achieve zero emissions with EVs as a potential fuel source. (I meant it as a joke, but it’s a death spiral for the auto industry.)
Simply put, in these healthy, wealthy countries, every person, animal, or anything that causes an increase in harmful emissions could disappear from the planet. Global emissions will continue to grow explosively in the coming years and decades due to population and economic growth in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, and Africa.
The UAW wants a more lucrative package and is not interested in “pieces of the EV puzzle” that could be a formula for the auto industry’s death spiral.
- The lithium supply chain for manufacturing EV batteries with current technology is very limited.
- Lack of enough buyers outside of the elite class of existing EV owners
- Shortage and inflation in the supply of all materials for manufacturing vehicles.
- EV batteries are a potential fire hazard, so the means of transporting EVs from foreign manufacturers to U.S. consumers is questionable.
- Concerns about whether EV batteries can be charged with renewable electricity.
- The government’s ethical and Lack of moral and social responsibility.
Where are the batteries?
The UAW is competing for better contracts, while the race to increase U.S. lithium production continues, as the supply chain for lithium, a key component in EV batteries, is already compromised internationally. ing. The following international dark clouds in the lithium supply chain could portend a U.S. rejection of strip mining in the world’s most environmentally regulated region.
Chile’s Supreme Court has blocked lithium mining in Chile’s Salar de Atacama, a vast landscape that contains 55 percent of the world’s known lithium deposits.
- Efforts to open mines and ore processing plants around the world are causing public confusion as environmentalists and local residents worry about the impact on nature and people’s livelihoods.
- The European Chemicals Agency’s (ECHA) Risk Assessment Committee aims to label three lithium compounds as dangerous for human health.
Where are the buyers?
Fair wages are a top priority for the UAW, but EVs are already out of reach for most. The current profile of EV owners reflects an oligarchic elite of highly educated, highly compensated, multi-car families with low mileage requirements for a second family car, and one is dramatically different from most car owners who own a car, and it’s not that expensive. They are neither educated nor highly compensated. Mandating changes in EV ownership and further austerity could face a backlash from people who need transportation.
Where is the transportation from the overseas manufacturer to the car dealer?
Rising production costs within the United States may result in increased manufacturing outside of U.S. borders. In 2019, more than 50 million cars were manufactured in China, Japan, India, Germany, and South Korea, while more than 11 million were manufactured in the United States.
Bringing these foreign cars into the United States may pose insurmountable insurance issues. Felicity Ace, a 650-foot cargo ship carrying hundreds of millions of dollars worth of luxury cars, sinks A salvage worker who was working on the burning ship said: Electric car batteries were partly to blame. It was still burning several days later. The estimated market value is felicity ace The total value of the 3,965 vehicles exceeded $500 million.
With the potential for a fire to ignite from a vehicle’s EV battery, who will be responsible for insuring the safe passage from the foreign manufacturer to the U.S. port, cargo ship, and manufacturer?
Where can I find the materials for the car?
Most people, not just UAW members, don’t know that crude oil is of no use unless it is manufactured into something usable. All EV materials, including electronics, plastics, glass, leather, and tires, are made from petroleum derivatives produced from crude oil.
Today’s Environmental, social and governance (ESG) divestment from fossil fuels There’s a huge craze for investing in all kinds of fossil fuels. ESG is working, but as society’s demand for products from crude oil exceeds supply from declining manufacturers, shortages and inflation will become the new norm.
there were Approximately 700 refineriesAs of January 2020, some stores around the world have closed, and 20% of them will close over the next five years as a result of continued overregulation, permitting delays, and aging equipment. It is predicted that A whopping 140 manufacturers will close. As society’s demand for products made from crude oil continues to exceed supply due to a declining number of manufacturers, supply shortages and permanent inflation may become the new normal.
Where is the electricity?
Government enthusiasm for zero-emission electricity in favor of intermittent electricity from wind and solar power is forcing coal-fired and natural gas power plants that have produced continuous uninterrupted power to be phased out.
We’ve all read about the concerns about “grid stability” to be able to charge EV batteries. Well, the UK may have given the world a warning as to why electricity prices are rising forever.
In the UK, regulations limiting charging times came into force in June 2022 due to concerns about grid stability, with fewer and fewer continuous uninterrupted power generation facilities available.
In the UK, new chargers in homes and workplaces will now automatically switch off during peak hours to avoid potential power outages. New chargers in the UK are pre-configured to not function during nine hours of peak load between 8am and 11am (3 hours) and 4pm and 10pm (6 hours).
In addition, all electric vehicle chargers installed in UK homes will be required to individually meter and transmit this information to the smart meter data communications network. This UK law could result in the electricity used to charge EVs being charged and taxed at higher rates than domestic electricity. Obviously, EV electricity users will pay for grid upgrades and maintenance.
Where is the ethical, moral and social responsibility for supplying lithium to meet obligations to EVs?
The Pulitzer Prize-nominated book “Clean Energy Exploitation -” Helping citizens understand environmental and humanitarian abuses that support clean energy, It does a great job of highlighting the lack of transparency about the environmental damage and humanitarian atrocities that occur in developing countries that mine rare minerals and metals to support “green” movements.
Subsidizing EV purchases is a financial incentive to encourage further exploitation of yellow, brown, and dark-skinned populations in developing countries. Are those subsidies ethically, morally, and socially responsible to the people being exploited?
In summary, the UAW strikers want more compensation, are unaffected by the enthusiasm of a few wealthy countries to achieve zero emissions at all costs, and are willing to pay more for lithium and all body parts, It will face key supply chain issues such as affordability, safety from spontaneous ignition, and availability. The affordability of electricity from breezes and sunlight, and the ethical challenges of exploiting people in poor countries as elites drive EVs built by the few who survived the government-mandated death spiral. etc.