Daimler Trucks claims zero-emission vehicles will lead to mass layoffs

A shift to zero-emission vehicles will lead to thousands of job losses at Daimler Trucks plants by 2033, said chairman Martin Daum on Thursday.

He said the cuts would be gradual and would include retirements and voluntary packages.

“This is no revolution coming over night, this is an evolution,” Daum told journalists on a conference call, according to Reuters.

The company said that electric vehicles have far fewer moving parts than traditional combustion engine models. Therefore companies that comply with the European Union CO2 emission reduction targets are expected to employ far fewer people over time.

“But this is no catastrophe,” Daum said. “We can use demographic changes and voluntary (severance) agreements. We will have no forced layoffs.”

EU leaders agreed back in December 2020 on a more ambitious goal for cutting greenhouse gases - reducing them by 55% by 2030, rather than 40%.

The EU Commission still needs to draw up detailed plans for all 27 member states to contribute to the 55% target, measured against 1990 CO2 emission levels. This will later on apply to companies such as carmakers.

Environmental campaign groups argued at the time that the 55% target is not enough and called for a 60% cut.