Harnessing the skills opportunities of a recharged electric vehicle sector
We are honoured to be the official supporter of a new report “Harnessing the skills opportunities of a recharged electric vehicle sector”. The report was prepared by RECHARGE UK, the EV arm of the REA (Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology) in association with Curzon Consulting. The report examines how the UK can equip its workforce for the exciting opportunities emerging in the EV sector.
Research compiled from industry stakeholders explores four key recommendations all requiring collaboration between the EV sector, local & central government, and educators, to ensure the UK workforce is prepared for, and, has the opportunities to learn the relevant skills needed to shape a sustainable, capable workforce.
Matt Western MP, Shadow Minister for Higher Education and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Electric Vehicles, said:
If we are going to decarbonise our economy and take advantage of the green opportunities of the future, we will need a workplace capable of delivering it. That’s why this report by the REA is so important and I hope it positively influences the debate.
There’s so much enthusiasm for the climate agenda among young people we need to harness. I want to see the Government commit to supporting colleges to specialise in the technical skills needed to build electric vehicles, as well as reform the apprenticeship levy to unlock funding for retraining and reskilling employees in the automotive sector.
Andrew Morgan, Managing Partner at Curzon Consulting, said:
Our contributing research with industry stakeholders on the frontline of the EV revolution shines a light on the exciting new career paths it is creating and the determination they are making to grow and develop the talent pool. It also underlines the urgent and continued need to do more and for industry to be supported by Government to match the efforts and underpin the continued expansion of the EV sector.
Details of the full report can be found here.
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Rationalising a Six-Site Footprint Into a Self-Funding, Customer-Ready Operation
Outcomes
The recommended footprint optimisation was accepted in full, a self-funding capital investment with a two-year payback period. The new operations and supply chain configuration met customers’ requirements for in-country sourcing, directly protecting and enabling future contract growth. Implementation was designed to minimise disruption through a people-centred approach, reducing HR-related risk and ensuring the retention of critical capabilities. Crucially, key stakeholders across all principal sites were engaged and aligned throughout, giving the new model genuine organisational ownership from day one.
Background
The business had grown organically over time, accumulating a complex web of intra-company and external supply chain relationships spread across multiple sites. The result was slow production cycle times, an unwieldy planning process, and a cost base that made it difficult to price competitively for either retention or new business.
The absence of a clear make-or-buy policy meant that costly in-house production was being maintained in areas where external sourcing would have been both cheaper and more flexible. And with customers beginning to impose requirements for in-country sourcing, the existing multi-continent footprint risked becoming not just inefficient, but a barrier to winning future contracts altogether.
Curzon Approach
Curzon applied a structured, fact-based diagnostic across the full breadth of the business — examining product, people, customers, regulation, operations, and supply chain through the Curzon framework. This comprehensive view of the organisation provided the solid foundation needed to develop a credible set of options rather than defaulting to an obvious but potentially suboptimal solution.
From the diagnostic, we developed an options-based operating model to serve as an anchor point for scenario evaluation across three primary lenses. Rather than presenting a recommendation and seeking sign-off, we worked interactively with key stakeholders from across the business — testing the practical feasibility of each scenario and building the ownership that would be essential for successful implementation.
Priority options were then subject to extensive assessment, including a detailed financial evaluation conducted in close cooperation with the client’s finance function, to identify the configuration that best balanced profitability with the ability to capture future market opportunities. The resulting recommendation was not only financially robust — it was structured to be self-funding, with a clear two-year payback that removed the need for external capital commitment.
