Green Careers Spotlight: How Much Can You Make in Electric Vehicle Manufacturing?

In recent years, the technology and public acceptance for electric vehicles has skyrocketed – leading to the growth of a number of specialized occupations. In their ongoing effort to collect and record data on green jobs and emerging careers  in advanced technologies, The Bureau of Labor Statistics has revealed some exciting information concerning job opportunities in electric vehicle manufacturing.

Workers in this field come from a variety of educational and employment backgrounds. Quite a few of the occupations require specialized training or work experience in electric vehicle manufacturing and maintenance. The graph below details the annual wages that workers in electronic vehicle manufacturing field might expect:

“Manufacturing electric vehicles is a complex process that requires a large, skilled workforce,” the B.L.S. notes. “Many of the workers involved in the manufacture of electric vehicles have previously worked in traditional vehicle manufacturing. Finished vehicles are manufactured by a few large auto companies, but many of the vehicles’ parts are made by smaller companies that specialize in individual components.”

Production for vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf is just the tip of the iceberg for this industry. Job opportunities in research and development, maintenance, infrastructure development, and sales are slated for significant growth in the coming years. Traditional vehicle manufacturing workers are expected to move into the field of hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and all-electric vehicles as the cars become more widespread.

The B.L.S. confirmed: “Employment growth is expected in most occupations in the electric vehicle industry in the next few years, according to a study by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of California, Berkeley. New types of automobile manufacturing jobs will be created; however, many of these jobs will be filled by current manufacturing employees or those that were displaced by recent downsizing of the automobile manufacturing industry.”