kurtlikevonnegut
Well-Known Member
Has there been any hint of Rivian opening a service center in Charlotte? I've only seen Atlanta and Raleigh mentioned in the service center thread, but may have missed it. Charlotte would be way closer than Atlanta or Raleigh for me.
I've got the afternoon off, so I started wondering if there was any movement on having direct EV sales in SC. So I started browsing...
Here's the House bill allowing direct sales of electric cars in SC:
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/sess124_2021-2022/prever/4029_20210304.htm
It was sent to the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry back in March where it has not been, and probably won't be, acted on:
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=4029
Here are the members of that House committee. Unfortunately, my representative is not among them, but if yours is, please contact them to support the bill and inquire about its status:
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/CommitteeInfo/houselci.php
The Senate had its own bill on the topic from the 2019-2020 session:
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/query....843142&result_pos=0&keyval=1230379&numrows=10
It was sent to the Senate Transportation Committee where it disappeared without a trace. Here are the members of that committee. Once again, my state senator is not on this committee, but if yours is, please contact them and ask why it hasn't moved forward:
https://www.scstatehouse.gov/CommitteeInfo/senatetransportation.php
In particular, the 2019 legislation was introduced by Senators Campsen and Senn, who together represent parts of Charleston, Dorchester, Beaufort, and Colleton Counties. If you are one of their constituents, please get in touch with them and encourage them to keep at it. I don't know this, but would be shocked if the auto dealers didn't use their influence to kill it. The legislators need to hear from constituents to give them enough starch to stand up against the opposition.
If I though it would do any good, I would be contacting these legislators. But, I really don't think they care what some rando from outside their district has to say on the matter. On the other hand, if you are a constituent of any of the folks on either of the relevant House or Senate committees you can absolutely get their attention. If you don't know their contact information, the homepage of the legislature, www.scstatehouse.gov, has a handy "Find Your Legislators" tool.
Frankly, I doubt there's much chance this will do any good unless Rivian and/or Tesla put their lobbying resources into it. Given that we're a backwater compared to places like Connecticut and Michigan, it seems unlikely they would come here and try. But, e-mails, phone calls, and social media are free and stamps are pretty cheap, so it can't hurt to try and make our representatives explain why it's not happening.
Sadly outside of someone having outsized influence with their local reps I doubt this will matter. The Good Ole Boy system is still far too strong in the SC legislature and too many of the dealers are part of that group to get anything through that would diminish their standing. What that means for me is that I won't buy another car from an SC dealership until the legislation is changed, period. I hate going to Atlanta for any reason, but I'd still rather go there than consider the alternative.
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