{"id":1771866,"date":"2022-12-12T06:01:05","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T11:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1771866"},"modified":"2022-12-12T06:03:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T11:03:46","slug":"rising-electric-vehicle-production-costs-may-lead-to-1350-layoffs-at-illinois-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rising-electric-vehicle-production-costs-may-lead-to-1350-layoffs-at-illinois-plant\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising Electric Vehicle Production Costs May Lead to 1,350 Layoffs at Illinois Plant"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Frising-electric-vehicle-production-costs-may-lead-to-1350-layoffs-at-illinois-plant%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1771866&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Automaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-stellantis\">Stellantis<\/a> will indefinitely idle an assembly plant in Illinois that employs around 1,350 workers, the\u00a0company said, citing the challenge of rising costs related to the electric vehicle (EV) market and other factors.<\/p>\n<p>The site, which will be idled beginning in February 2023, manufactures the Jeep Cherokee SUV. Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep, said it might not resume operations at the site as it considers alternative options.<\/p>\n<p>The industry \u201chas been adversely affected by a multitude of factors like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the global microchip shortage, but the most impactful challenge is the increasing cost related to the electrification of the automotive market,\u201d Stellantis said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Tim Ferguson, shop chairman for United Auto Workers (UAW) union Local 1268, which represents the Illinois plant\u2019s hourly workers, cited company documents to claim that Cherokee production is being shifted to Stellantis\u2019s Toluca plant in Mexico and that the firm intends to close the Belvidere plant.<\/p>\n<p>Amsterdam-based Stellantis insists that it\u2019s looking at repurposing the Illinois facility but didn\u2019t reveal any concrete plans. Cindy Estrada, vice president of UAW, criticized Stellantis for receiving \u201cbillions in government incentives\u201d to transition to clean energy while failing to invest that money into \u201cour communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The carmaker had said it plans to invest more than 30 billion euros ($31.6 billion) through 2025 to electrify its vehicle lineup.<\/p>\n<p>While the company expects EVs to make up 100 percent of its sales in Europe by the end of this decade, it only expects electric vehicles to account for 50 percent of sales in the United States.<\/p>\n<h2>Rising Costs, Reliability Issues<\/h2>\n<p>The cost of EV production rose massively during the COVID-19 pandemic. The average <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2022\/06\/22\/electric-vehicle-raw-material-costs-doubled-during-pandemic.html\">cost<\/a> of raw materials for an EV came in at $8,255 per vehicle in May 2022, an increase of 144 percent from $3,381 in March 2020, according to global consulting firm AlixPartners.<\/p>\n<p>The cost increase has been driven by materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which are critical in the manufacture of the rechargeable batteries used in EVs.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4508046\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/06\/02\/Rod-Colwell-and-Tracy-Sizemore-1200x800.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazy size-medium wp-image-4508046\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/themes\/eet\/images\/white.png\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Rod-Colwell-and-Tracy-Sizemore-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\"   style=\"display:none\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-4508046\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Rod-Colwell-and-Tracy-Sizemore-600x400-1.jpg\" alt=\"Epoch Times Photo\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> Rod Colwell, CEO of Controlled Thermal Resources (R), and Tracy Sizemore, the company\u2019s global director of battery materials, walk along geothermal mud pots near the shore of the Salton Sea, where the company mines for lithium, in Niland, Calif., on July 15, 2021. (Marcio Jose Sanchez\/AP Photo)<\/figure>\n<p>In the United States, states <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/georgia-joins-other-states-in-recent-announcements-to-incentivize-electric-vehicle-production_4915278.html\">such<\/a>\u00a0as Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina have announced plans to incentivize EV production.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, electric vehicles appear to be less reliable than their gas-powered alternatives in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>The Consumer Reports 2022 Annual Auto Reliability <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/electric-vehicles-less-reliable-than-gas-powered-automobiles-consumer-reports-finds_4866083.html\">survey<\/a>, which covered 24 auto brands, found that mid-sized or large and gas-powered sedans, as well as hybrid vehicles, were the most reliable vehicles sold in the market.<\/p>\n<p>Owners of electric vehicles reported multiple issues with electric motors, batteries, and charging systems. Tesla, a market leader in EV sales, placed just 19th spot in overall brand rankings.<\/p>\n<p><em>Reuters contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-naveen-athrappully\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/NaveenAthrappully.jpg\" alt=\"Naveen Athrappully\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Naveen Athrappully is a news reporter covering business and world events at The Epoch Times.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Automaker Stellantis will indefinitely idle an assembly plant in Illinois that employs around 1,350 workers, the\u00a0company said, citing the challenge of rising costs related to the electric vehicle (EV) market<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1646556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[7971,5458,7969,5340,6413,7970,6961,3919,4757,3819,7972,5343],"class_list":["post-1771866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report","tag-7971","tag-bongino","tag-costs","tag-electric","tag-illinois","tag-layoffs","tag-lead","tag-plant","tag-production","tag-report","tag-rising","tag-vehicle"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1771866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1771866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1646556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1771866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1771866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1771866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}