MECHANICS across Britain have warned that electric vehicles will drive them out of business – while the rich car manufacturers cash in and customers pay the price.
Repairmen have slammed the Government’s plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, saying it will decimate independent garages due to a lack of specialist equipment and training for working on electric cars.
Mechanics across Britain are warning that electric vehicles will drive them out of business due to lack of training and specialist equipmentGetty
Dingo PhotoRepairmen have slammed the Govt plan to ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2030[/caption]
Fewer than one in five mechanics are currently trained to work on electric vehicles and many cannot afford to retrain.
Some claim that the manufacturers are even refusing to pass on essential data about fixing the new cars so they are forced out of business, meaning customers have no choice but to turn to expensive dealers.
Bilal Khan, who has been a mechanic for 14 years, told The Sun on Sunday: “I looked into getting training back in 2018 and it cost around £8,000.
“I have two staff members working for me, so to get everyone qualified it would be more than £20,000.
“It isn’t just the staff training that’s extortionate, you also need specialist equipment which is stupidly expensive.
Green agenda
“You can’t put an electric car on a regular ramp, you need a specialist lift.
“You have to have insulated tools as you can get electrocuted, which is dangerous. There’s a bigger safety issue.
Mechanic Billy Khan explains why costs are extortionate for mechanics to switch to working on electric vehiclesNorth News & Pictures
“You also need more space, as an electric car is a huge fire hazard. The cost is exponential.
“The general public will suffer too. Electrical vehicles are lower maintenance than petrol or diesel cars but if they break, it’s very expensive to fix them.
“We do not have the infrastructure for the move. There are barely any charging points either.
“If you don’t get a really expensive car like a Tesla and want to drive a long distance such as Glasgow to London you won’t be able to do it.”
Bilal, 33, who owns Billy’s Auto & Body shop in Newcastle upon Tyne, added: “If I was speaking to a politician, I would say, ‘Before you push the green agenda, make sure the infrastructure is there’.”
Shocking statistics from the IMI, the Institute of the Motor Industry, show only 18 per cent of UK mechanics — 42,400 — are trained to work on electric vehicles.
The organisation has estimated that the country needs an extra 107,000 qualified technicians to meet soaring demand by 2030.
Eric Smith, 48, who works at Almondbury Garage in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, started his apprenticeship 30 years ago and is terrified about the future.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “A lot of independent garages are going to close. I bet by 2030 half of them will be shut.
“I hope there is a U-turn. It’s stupid. Mechanics will retire early or leave the profession.
“You are going to need degrees to work on electric cars. The lads that are good with their hands won’t get a look in.
“Customers will be forced to go back to the main dealer, and they’ll be able to charge whatever they like, as they’ll be the only ones who can fix them.
“Even if small traders learn how to work on the cars, they’ll all be under warranty so customers will be scared to come to us in case their warranty gets cancelled.
“These companies aren’t even sharing the blueprints or data on how to fix these cars.
“I’ve seen the move from petrol to diesel to hybrid but nothing has rocked the industry like the move to electric.”
Hayley Pells, policy and public affairs lead at the IMI, said: “MOT data shows more electric vehicles failed their MOT than combustion engine cars, but they failed on tyres.
“Technicians who don’t have training in electric vehicles can still work on the cars and change tyres but they still need basic hazard training to protect staff.”
Larger companies such as Halfords Autocentres do have the ability to train the mechanics.
Andy Turbefield, head of quality at the company, said: “We train our mechanics to the relevant electric vehicle standard, we enable them to work with electric cars.
“In the independent sector and independent garages that’s not necessarily always the case.
“Independent owners may not always be able to invest in that training, so those mechanics can be left behind or be faced with paying for their own training.
“It’s also about up-skilling existing colleagues. Technicians are getting older, and the older they get, the less attractive training is.
‘It’s not stable’
“Unfortunately, some will lose out, and those will be the ones that choose not to invest and not to train.
“Combustion engines will still be on the roads for another ten or 20 years and we still need people skilled to work on them.
Peter Johnson says that at just 40 he will be forced to leave the trade if the green initiative goes aheadOliver Dixon – Commissioned by The Sun
“It’s a big challenge to find 100,000 technicians. It’s going to be a tall order but it’s not impossible.
“It’s about transitioning with your customer base. We have to do that for the good of the consumer.”
Peter Johnson says that at just 40 he will be one of those forced to leave the trade if the green initiative goes ahead.
The owner of Hayes Auto, in Hayes, Middlesex, said: “It isn’t feasible for us. It will decimate local garages, without a doubt.
“I was a trained engineer and left that because of my love of cars but now I think, ‘Why did I do that?’
“I would have to re-train as an electrical mechanic and I don’t have any interest in that. No one is interested in that.
“If the changes happen, I’ll leave the profession. When I started, being a mechanic was a job for life but now it’s not a stable job.
“To work on electric cars, I would have to order in new equipment.
“I just spent £10,000 upgrading my MOT equipment last year — and that will be redundant soon.”
Some in the industry are calling on the Government to subsidise mechanics in the learning of new skills.
A report, released by The Social Market Foundation think tank in December, pointed out that many mechanics receive informal on-the-job training, which would be inappropriate or dangerous with high-voltage electric vehicles.
Stuart James, of the Independent Garage Association, said the Government needs “to help the sector address the shortfall of skilled technicians as well as investing in the infrastructure”.
Tory MP Craig Mackinlay has been vocal about the Government’s plan to ban the sale of new fossil fuel cars by 2030.
Concerns have also been raised about the ethics of importing electric vehicles from China.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “The rushed transition towards electric vehicles is likely to leave many workers in the motor vehicle industry behind.
“They cannot see why they should have to retrain late in their career to support a product which is contaminated with child-labour concerns and leaves the consumer plagued with anxiety.”