The self-reliance of Germany’s carmakers for producing electric vehicles has to increase substantially over the next years if massive job losses in one of the country’s most important industries are to be avoided, government advisers of the National Platform on Future Mobility (NPM) say in a new report, according to Clean Energy Wire.

“If the competitiveness of Germany’s industry regarding e-mobility does not improve in the next years and the need for import for battery cells and e-cars grows in line with the roll-out, effects on the employment structure would be significant,” the NPM concludes in its report.

Under the most pessimistic scenario, there could be up to 410,000 fewer jobs by 2030, about 0.9 percent of all jobs in the country, the NPM says. The advisors add that the country’s car producers will no longer be able to create wealth and employment along the entire production chain as they do today; production of e-cars can be automated much better than that of combustion engine cars. Investing continuously in training and identifying new potentials for value creation through changed business models are necessary for carmakers to retain jobs.