Workforce Development

How Many Factory Jobs Will Battery Manufacturing Create?

Workforce Development

How Many Factory Jobs Will Battery Manufacturing Create?

The number of jobs created by battery factories depends on (1) how are the jobs counted (e.g. is module/pack assembly included?), (2) process technology employed by the manufacturer (e.g. level of automation, equipment outsourcing) and (3) process maturity (e.g. how many years have they had to refine their manufacturing processes?).

60 to 125 jobs per GWh - McKinsey, 2022

(Consulting Firm)

McKinsey reported that, on average, new battery factories add approximately 80 jobs for every GWh of capacity. This number carries some uncertainty since differences in value-chain coverage, e.g. battery-cell production only versus local module and pack production or co-location of R&D facilities, are unclear.

35 jobs per GWh - BatPaC v5.0, 2022

(Factory Model)

The BatPaC v5.0 baseline factory model reported an annual labor of 3,876,000 hours per year to produce 50 GWh of output. Assuming each worker works 2,236 hours per year (with a 43-hour work-week), this amounts to 35 workers per GWh.

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65 to 162 jobs per GWh - Electrek, 2018

(News Report)

The Electrek investigated a state audit report showing that the Tesla Gigafactory 1 reportedly employed 3,249 people when the factory was producing 20 GWh of annual output, including 1,201 Panasonic employees, 1,955 Tesla employees, and 93 employees from Heitkamp & Thumann Group a battery cell can supplier. The equivalent “jobs per GWh” depends on whether Tesla employees are included in the count.

44 to 119 jobs per GWh - Cotterman et al., 2022

(Research Paper)

Cotterman et al. reported labor intensity (LI) per EV powertrain assuming a 60 kWh pack. LI varied by data source and whether pack/module assembly was included. For the available data, LI ranged between 11-16 hours with industry sources and 6-15 hours with public sources. With 2,236 hours worked per year, this translates to 44 to 119 workers per GWh.

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.