“Right, time to get ourselves 2030 ready”

So now we know. The automotive industry will be slowly weening itself off conventional combustion engines as we head towards 2030 and the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel-powered cars and vans.

Hybrid technology has a stay of execution until 2035 as long as the technology can drive a significant distance with no tailpipe emissions. So plug-in hybrids rather than mild hybrid technologies will survive for a little longer. After that it’ll be electric vehicles only.

We need more details, but from this point on we all need to start asking ourselves an incredibly important question: are we adequately trained to work on EVs?

The facts reinforce the challenge:

• It’s predicted there will be between 2.7 million and 10.6 million EVs on the road by 2030… 
• …the upper figure means that the UK would need approximately 70,500 qualified technicians to support the vehicle parc.
• At the moment around 5% of UK automotive technicians are ready, roughly 13,000-20,000. 

If the critical mass of skills doesn’t exist, the support infrastructure will be undermined, EV uptake will stall and we won’t hit our zero emissions target.

The IMI is pushing hard here. We’ll stand up for our members who are on the front line of this dramatic shift. And we’ll call on the government to recognise the importance of accredited skills – and the need for adequate funding. 

Put simply, government action is needed urgently to encourage employers to accelerate EV training plans.

We’ve already started preparing. The IMI TechSafe™ standards, endorsed by OLEV at the end of last year, mean that electrified vehicle users can access the IMI Professional Register to check the electric vehicle technical competencies of technicians at their local garage. 

We’ve also rolled out EV training courses, many of which are free to members, so you can get up to date as quickly as possible and be ready for when these vehicles start arriving at your business – if they haven’t already. And we’ll soon be announcing exciting news about the IMI’s eLearning offering.

The world’s changing. If the IMI can help in any way please get in touch. We’re available on +44 (0)1992 519025, or send emails to hello@theimi.org.uk if you need us.
 
Stay safe,
 
Steve