![Japan looks to teaching teens to make EV batteries amid labour shortage in the sector 01]()
Labour shortages in the EV battery industry in Japan has seen giants such as Toyota Motor and Panasonic Energy turn to training teenagers early on with hopes of churning out 30,000 battery-related workers by 2030 to overcome the deficit.
However, the move is actually part of a national effort as detailed in March 2023 by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry together with trade groups such as the Battery Association for Supply Chain.
Part of the latter includes Toyota Motor, Panasonic Energy and their battery joint venture effort, Prime Planet Energy & Solutions.
The 30,000 workers will complement the current battery-related workforce of 10,000 in Japan.
![Japan looks to teaching teens to make EV batteries amid labour shortage in the sector 01]()
For the initial stage, about 40 students will attend an experimental class in December 2023 on battery technology at Osaka Prefecture University College of Technology, a kosen vocational school.
Kosen vocational colleges are a type of vocational - technical college that accepts students at the age of 15 years old and engages them in intensive engineering education for 5 years.
From 2024 onwards, similar EV battery building courses will be offered at kosens, high schools and universities around Japan.
Also Read: Not the MX-30, Mazda to launch a new BEV after 2025, may use Panasonic cylindrical batteries
![Japan looks to teaching teens to make EV batteries amid labour shortage in the sector 02]()
Panasonic Energy has so far hired 50 students from kosens and high schools but will be looking to hire 5,000 employees globally by 2026, with 3,000 of them to be based in North America where Panasonic Energy is a major battery supplier to Tesla.
“Good battery engineers are lacking worldwide. You need to train engineers and designers before they become good, but currently they're lacking everywhere,” said Mitsutaka Fujita, a researcher at Tokyo-based Techno Systems Research.
The courses will be led by instructors that comprise retired staff from battery companies, among other related experts. Students will learn to use battery-making equipment provided by the government’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, take virtual tours of EV battery plants and learn how the technology they’ll be helping develop will contribute to carbon neutrality.
Also Read: Toyota, Japanese partners to pilot battery storage facility: think of it as a powerbank for a country, by reusing EV batteries
![Japan looks to teaching teens to make EV batteries amid labour shortage in the sector 03]()
Auto giants globally have announced massive plans to increase EV battery production. General Motors plans to build four lithium-ion battery plants by 2025 with USD 9.2 billion in US government loans while Ford Motor intends to construct three new battery plants. Toyota isn’t going to miss out as well as it will be starting battery production in the U.S. state of North Carolina by 2025.
Masaru Miki, chief human resources officer at Panasonic Energy, explained to Nikkei Asia that finding workers for battery production is difficult because the manufacturing process requires knowledge of chemistry, mass production techniques and mechanical design. Simply put, it isn’t the same as slapping body panels together on an assembly line.
This is especially evident at its battery plant in Reno, Nevada, which it operates with Tesla.
“Reno has limited resources of labour and it’s hard to get the talents we need,” he added.
However, Miki added that Panasonic Energy has been in discussions with several US community colleges with a similar plan to help develop a battery-related workforce for new factories it’s planning to build in the US
“We might need something like a ‘Panasonic class,’ if we want to do it in-depth,” he said.
