More Than a Model Change: The Monumental Challenge of Shifting from ICE to EV Manufacturing
For over a century, the rhythm of the automotive world has been dictated by the roar of the internal combustion engine (ICE). The entire ecosystem—from factory layouts and supply chains to workforce skills—was perfected around this marvel of mechanical engineering. Now, that entire world is being upended. The industry's pivot to electric vehicles (EVs) is not just a simple switch of powertrain; it is a complete industrial metamorphosis, arguably the most complex, expensive, and perilous transformation legacy automakers have ever undertaken.
As of late 2025, it's clearer than ever that building a successful EV is about far more than just replacing an engine with a battery. It requires a fundamental reinvention of the company itself. Here are the monumental challenges legacy automakers are facing on the factory floor and beyond.
The Hardware Revolution: Retooling and Reimagining the Factory
The first and most tangible hurdle is the staggering cost of reconfiguring the physical manufacturing footprint. A factory designed to build cars with gasoline engines cannot simply start producing EVs overnight.
Immense Capital Investment: The cost to retool a single assembly plant for EV production can run into the billions of dollars. This involves ripping out old machinery for engine and transmission assembly and installing new, highly automated equipment for battery pack integration and electric motor production. Automakers are spending tens of billions of dollars collectively to either convert existing "brownfield" sites or build entirely new "greenfield" EV mega-factories from the ground up.
A New Assembly Line Logic: The very process of building a car changes. The traditional "marriage point," where the engine and transmission are lifted into the car's body, is gone. It's replaced by a new critical process: the installation of a massive, heavy, high-voltage battery pack into the vehicle's floor. This requires different logistics, new safety protocols for handling high-voltage systems, and a complete redesign of the assembly line's flow.
The Supply Chain Upheaval: From Pistons to Prismatic Cells
The shift from ICE to EV triggers a radical upheaval of a century-old supply chain. An ICE vehicle contains around 30,000 parts, many sourced from a complex, multi-tiered network of mechanical component suppliers. An EV has far fewer parts (around 20,000), but its value chain is dominated by entirely new and different components.
The Battery is Everything: The EV supply chain is, first and foremost, a battery supply chain. This has forced automakers into a new and unfamiliar world of mineral sourcing, battery chemistry, and cell manufacturing. They are no longer just buying parts; they are becoming deeply involved in securing raw materials like lithium and cobalt and are investing billions in joint-venture gigafactories to control their own battery supply—a level of vertical integration they haven't seen in decades.
Stranded Suppliers: This shift leaves thousands of traditional suppliers in a perilous position. Companies that have spent generations perfecting pistons, fuel injectors, exhaust systems, and transmissions are seeing their core business evaporate. The entire ICE supplier ecosystem faces the threat of becoming a "stranded asset," creating potential economic disruption and job losses that ripple through the manufacturing economy.
The People Problem: A Monumental Skills Shift
Perhaps the most complex challenge is the human one. The workforce that perfected the internal combustion engine needs to be retrained and reskilled for an electric and software-driven future.
The demand is shifting dramatically from mechanical engineers to:
Battery Chemists and Electrical Engineers: To design and manage the high-voltage systems at the heart of the EV.
Software and Systems Engineers: To develop the vehicle's operating system, battery management software, and the features that define a modern Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV).
Thermal Management Experts: To design the sophisticated cooling and heating systems required to keep the battery operating at peak efficiency.
This requires a massive investment in retraining existing employees while simultaneously competing fiercely with Silicon Valley and the tech industry for a limited pool of top software talent.
The Culture Clash: From Hardware Giant to Software Startup
Ultimately, the greatest challenge is one of identity. Legacy automakers have a century-old culture built around five-to-seven-year hardware development cycles. They are masters of precision manufacturing at scale.
The EV and SDV world, however, operates on the rapid, agile, and iterative cycle of the software industry. The car is no longer a finished product when it leaves the factory; it is an upgradable device. This requires a complete cultural transformation—a shift from a hardware-first to a software-first mindset. It means embracing over-the-air updates, developing new digital services, and changing the entire organizational structure to be less hierarchical and more like a modern technology company.
This cultural clash is the invisible but most powerful hurdle. Overcoming it is the true test for any legacy automaker hoping to survive and thrive in the new electric era. The transition is not just about changing what they build, but about changing who they are.
