Car is essential item for me.
Do you have a car? I have one because I live in a rural area where there isn’t much public transportation.
I drive to work. Cars are essential for me and for others who live in rural areas.
In addition, I work for a company that makes automotive parts.
As you may know, the automotive industry is struggling right now.
Technological advancement is so fast.
For example, in case of mobile-phone
I think this is an era of big change that’s like the one when mobile phones were replaced by smartphones.
That change was total and happened really fast because technological advancement is so fast.
I know that this change was a good thing and that it has improved a lot of people’s quality of life, but it’s harmed others.
One thing that comes to mind is that a particular company that made cell-phone key pads went bankrupt after smartphones became mainstream.
Other companies that made cell-phone parts also had hard times, and a lot of people lost their jobs.
And next, automotive industry’s turn.
Now it’s the automotive industry’s turn.
It’s one of Japan’s leading industries and is divided into four main categories: car makers like Toyota and Nissan; companies that make parts, like Denso and Calsonic Kansei; car dealerships, which mostly do sales and maintenance; and companies that sell related products and services, like insurance companies.
I belong to the second of these: a company that makes car parts.
To produce one vehicle numerous companies are involved.
The automotive industry is maintained by lots of companies and the people who work for them.
These companies provide lots of employment, so they make a kind of social contribution.
Automotive industry crisis ?
However, the industry system is going to collapse soon as a result of technological progress.
There are several major car makers in the world— Toyota, GM, BMW, Volkswagen etc.—and these companies have almost the same manufacturing process.
However, with the advent of Tesla, that’s going to change hugely.
As you probably know, Tesla is an American company that makes electric vehicles, and CEO Elon Musk is one of the richest people in the world.
Economy would get worse.
In the near future electric vehicles are going to replace gasoline-powered vehicles more and more.
This is a response to environmental issues like those discussed at COP21, and the need to set sustainable development goals (SDGs) has also been recognized recently.
Car companies are also adopting IT technology, and this is summed up in the acronym CASE (connected, autonomous, shared/service, and electric).
For this reason, the vehicle manufacturing process is going to totally change, and fewer car parts will be needed to build vehicles.
As I said, I work for a car parts company, and this change is something bad for us.
If the world switches to electric vehicles, my company may not be able to supply parts, and a lot of other car parts companies will struggle too.
That would create a very unstable situation.
The car industry is a huge market, so large numbers of people would become unemployed and the economy would get worse.
Which are better, EVs or gasoline-powered cars?
Considering this situation, which do you think is better, electric cars or gasoline-powered ones?
This is very controversial.
Electric cars are better for the environment, but gasoline-powered cars create lots of jobs.
It’s been reported that people who work for the automotive industry account for eight percent of the Japanese labor force.
That’s a big share.
The automobile industry is regarded as a key driver of Japan’s manufacturing industry. The number of people engaged directly or indirectly in the industry is about 5.42 million, accounting for about 8% of Japan’s entire workforce.
Because of where I work, I hope gasoline-powered vehicles are still around in the future.
My opinion is that EVs and gasoline-powered vehicles should coexist.
In this way emissions could be cut and companies could keep their employees.
However, this is a very difficult issue.
The EU recently announced that starting in 2035 it will allow only zero-emission vehicles.
This means that companies will only be able to sell electric cars, and that will speed up the overall trend.
EU Green Deal seeks to force shift to electric vehicles in 2035
Trade-off or Pros and Cons !!
Protecting the environment or creating jobs: which do you think is more important?
However, this isn’t an issue only for the car industry; other industries have the same problem.
The current of the times is changing rapidly.
If a company can’t keep up with the flow of the times it may go bankrupt.
Nobody knows in the future！
Can you stay in earth forever?
Nowadays the planet earth frequently experiences huge disasters.
A few years ago Japan had a tragic tsunami and earthquake, and floods have been occurring around the world.
Is the planet nearing the end of its lifespan?
If so, will people be able to move to another planet and live there?
I don’t think that’s possible yet, but nobody knows what will happen in the future.
Fallacies of false choice is bad.
For these reasons, people need some options for how to live good lives.
They aren’t limited to only two options: people need to avoid fallacies of false choice, like black-and-white thinking.
To achieve clean energy and avoid destroying jobs, people have to think about things from different points of view.
This is why I think that hybrid cars are the best choice.
That’s my opinion.
What do you think?
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