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The growing adoption of electric vehicles is having a direct impact on the automotive job market. Engineers specializing in combustion engines, once key players in the industry, are now facing uncertainty as demand for their traditional skills declines.
What was once synonymous with prestige and innovation has become synonymous with obsolescence. The combustion engine has lost ground in recent years to electric vehicles. And because of this, a generation of traditional engineers lost relevance in this valuable market.
The beginning of a passionate career for the engineer
For decades, the engineer Lem Yeung lived the height of automotive engineering. But within a few years, everything changed.
In 1991, Lem Yeung graduated from Purdue University, in the midst of an economic recession. Without many options, he got an internship at Ford.
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It was just the beginning. The children of Chinese immigrants, their parents had also worked at the company. Engineering ran in the family's blood.
Yeung quickly stood out. He worked with internal combustion engines. A complex universe, full of details, adjustments, noises and sensations.
For him, it was more than a job. It was a technical playground. He spent hours calibrating engines, fiddling with pressure, sparks, torque curves.
It wasn’t simple. It involved trial and error. Fear of failure. A lot of instinct.”I always thought the engine was going to blow up", he said.
But that was what excited him. He learned that engineering, in practice, was about improvisation and intuition, not just formulas. The reward came when everything worked.
The height of prestige and era-defining projects
Over the years, Yeung has worked on a number of notable projects. One of his most notable was the Power Stroke “Scorpion” engine, a 8-liter diesel V-6.7 designed for Ford’s Super Duty line. He also worked on smaller engines, such as a 6-liter V-3.0 in pickup trucks in the 90s.
Behind the scenes, there was a technical camaraderie that drove the engineers. They exchanged ideas, tested hypotheses, built prototypes. The combustion engine had hundreds of moving parts. It required precision and creativity. Yeung loved it.
The arrival of trams and the beginning of the end
But things are starting to change. Ford CEO Jim Farley, appointed in 2020, has begun an aggressive move to reposition the company. company in the race for electric vehicles. Ford was trailing GM in profits and needed to cut costs.
Farley made it clear: Traditional engine engineers were being replaced by software and battery experts. The message was straightforward.
In 2021, Yeung received an email from HR. It was an offer of early retirement. The company was offering extra pay to anyone who agreed to leave.
At 52, Yeung faced a difficult choice. He still had the energy for another decade of work. But the space for him was shrinking.
A technical universe in extinction
Electric motors are different. Much simpler. While a combustion engine has hundreds of parts, an electric powertrain can have fewer than 25. That changes everything.
In an electric car, maximum torque is available at all times. This eliminates the need for multi-speed transmissions.
The driving experience is smooth and quiet. But for engineers like Yeung, it’s boring. “It’s no longer an art form,” he said.
Yeung wasn’t against electrics. He understood their efficiency. But he lamented the loss of complexity and technical challenge. To him, it was like watching his profession being dismantled piece by piece.
The secret attempt to save an engine
Despite the end-of-cycle mood, Yeung did have one shining moment. In the mid-2000s, when he realized that Ford wasn’t planning to update the engines in the Escape and Fusion — two of the company’s best-selling cars — he made a bold move.
He began developing an improvement for the 3,0-liter engine on his own. He adjusted valves, increased airflow, and redesigned the intake system. He knew he needed help. He sought out combustion specialist Steve Penkevich, who agreed to participate in the project.
Together, they assembled a small team of engineers. They worked in secret. They discussed technical strategies, exchanged ideas, and carried out tests. The result was an upgrade that increased the engine’s power by 40 horsepower. A modest but significant gain. Enough to keep the car competitive.
The project never made headlines. But for Yeung, it was a rekindling of his passion. “Cool, I didn’t get fired,” he thought. Years later, Penkevich’s wife still drove a car with that engine.
The growing pressure of the new order
Meanwhile, electric vehicles were still a minority in sales, but automakers were investing billions.
GM promised $20 billion in 2020. Ford raised it to $30 billion in 2021 and then to $50 billion in 2022. The numbers just kept growing.
Developing new combustion engines was expensive. It could cost more than US$1 billion. And the return was ever decreasing. In 2011, 70 new engine families were launched globally. In 2021, only five. The number was expected to reach zero this decade.
The engines were being left behind. And with them, engineers like Yeung.
The loss of the “secret sauce”
For Yeung, powertrains have been the industry’s “secret sauce” for a hundred years. A unique combination of scale, capital and technical expertise. That kept out newcomers. Until Tesla came along.
Now the game has changed. Traditional automakers are competing with technology companies. Samsung, LG, Panasonic, Nidec and dozens of Chinese startups are in the game. And with an advantage.
"Just assemble the pieces as if they were Lego.,” Yeung said. He doesn’t believe the old giants will be able to innovate in EVs like they did with engines.All barriers to entry have disappeared."
The past that never comes back
Yeung wasn't the only one. Penkevich also retired, eight months before him. Both men saw the end of an era up close.
They belonged to a group that made engines more efficient, cleaner, more powerful. They helped to comply with environmental regulations, save fuel, reduce emissions. They created solutions that marked generations.
In the 2000s, engine debates raged among enthusiasts. Names like Chevrolet’s small-block V-8 or Jaguar’s six-cylinder were almost mythical. Brands had exclusive engines. Even GM, in the 60s, offered more than 25 different options. Today, there are fewer than a dozen.
Change is inevitable
The electric revolution is not new. In 1900, electric cars were more common than gasoline-powered ones. But they lost ground due to limited range, high cost and lack of infrastructure.
The scenario was reversed with the arrival of gas stations and improvements in the combustion engine. Henry Ford's assembly lines made gasoline-powered cars cheaper. Electric cars disappeared.
Today, history is repeating itself — in reverse. Emissions regulations have tightened. Global warming has accelerated. Pressure for clean cars has grown. The industry has realized that it can no longer get much out of combustion engines.
Investments have migrated. Knowledge has changed. Codes have replaced pistons.
A soulless industry?
Yeung, with his frustration, raises a difficult question: Are cars losing their soul?
For him, yes. The combustion engine was not just a technique. It was an emotion. Sound, vibration, response. It was an art. An imperfect science. EVs, for him, are efficient but cold. Fast but without personality.
It’s not just nostalgia. It’s the loss of a specific kind of creativity. A visceral engineering. And in the process, the loss of thousands of professionals who shaped modern mobility.
Yeung still respects the new generation. But he knows: his era is over.
The closing of a cycle
The HR email marked more than an offer of retirement. It was the end of a cycle. For Yeung, for Penkevich and for many others.
They left their mark. They created engines that moved the world. They solved impossible problems. And they faced, with courage, an inevitable transition.
The world now turns with less noise, less smoke, fewer gears. But also with less grease, less improvisation and, perhaps, less magic.
With spectrum information.
If electric cars had taken off when they first appeared, we wouldn't have the climate conditions we have today, and oil would be used differently and more rationally. Now, with the irreversible change in technology for electrifying cars, the production of internal combustion cars, mechanics, and consumers will have to adapt to the new times. In my opinion, one important thing is missing for the electrification of cars to be faster: battery standardization among electric car manufacturers. Imagine, we have small AAA, AA, and A batteries that are already standardized. If we had standardization in electric cars, it would be easier. Some Chinese are already talking about and implementing this battery replacement system, and they are also working on more efficient chargers, but so far I haven't heard of battery standardization. Welcome to electric cars.
Nothing in nature is static…everything changes, everything moves!
Missing the internal combustion engine (ICE) in vehicles is like missing thermo-ion valves in electronic equipment. For now, the advantage of the ICE is the practicality of its quick refueling and minimal fuel weight (compared to the weight of the batteries). This pair of problems still keeps the ICE in production, and allows the practical advantage of hybrids, for now, perhaps the best cost-benefit solution.