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South Carolina, anyone?

kurtlikevonnegut

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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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Mr. Sparkle

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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.
Well, I don’t disagree about the good ol’ boy system; heaven knows it’s pervasive here. But, as a retired state employee who had to occasionally interact with some of them, I know they certainly don’t like to hear from unhappy voters.

If you don’t tell them what you are doing and why, and that you’re disgruntled, then they’ll have zero incentive to do anything. But, you need to be one of their voters. I live in Richland County, so Harvey Peeler and Hugh Leatherman don’t give a hoot about my opinion since I am neither a constituent nor wealthy enough to be a generous contributor (see previous reference to being a career state employee). ?
 

nc10

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kurtlikevonnegut

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Seeing all the excitement about invitations and Rivian sightings is cool, but I do feel a little left out here. I certainly understand the reasoning behind concentrating on California and other states with laws that favor EVs and direct sales, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed and feeling left out that Rivian has effectively ignored about 1/3 of the country for the last several months.
 

TDWRT1

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I feel certain I will see a few Rivian vehicles out on the interstate here in SC. Are we gonna have some customary wave?! Any other SC folks here?
I'll post here, since the NC thread is Raleigh-specific (lol). Live in Charlotte own property in SC near HHI. RT1 ordered about 13 months ago.
 

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HokieBird7980

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I'll post here, since the NC thread is Raleigh-specific (lol). Live in Charlotte own property in SC near HHI. RT1 ordered about 13 months ago.
Welcome to the Carolinas Rivian group. I too am in Charlotte (Waxhaw) and probably closer to most of SC folks posting than Raleigh folks. Question will be, where will they put a Rivian service center. Closest one I've heard about is Atlanta. Was hoping for one in Charlotte at some point, or Ashville, since the RAN network of chargers goes up and down Blue Ridge Parkway.
 

kurtlikevonnegut

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Welcome to the Carolinas Rivian group. I too am in Charlotte (Waxhaw) and probably closer to most of SC folks posting than Raleigh folks. Question will be, where will they put a Rivian service center. Closest one I've heard about is Atlanta. Was hoping for one in Charlotte at some point, or Ashville, since the RAN network of chargers goes up and down Blue Ridge Parkway.
I'm not sure what the dealership laws are like in NC but I don't expect anything in SC anytime soon (within the next 5 years). I'd certainly prefer Charlotte to Atlanta since I have friends in Tega Cay that we can stay with but considering they haven't even started on the Atlanta facility yet I'm not holding my breath. I doubt I'll see a Rivian on the road in SC before next summer.
 

MoreTrout

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I'm in SC now, but spend a few months a year back in PA and am planning to move back to PA permanently in the first half of 2022. Since I have family in PA whose address I can use now, I reached out to customer service to see if they thought it would make any difference for me to change the address on my account now. I kind of asked them if my delivery time might be impacted in either direction based on the two regions, but as expected it was like throwing a fishing line in a mud puddle. He did respond that he thought it would be good for me to be proactive and change my address to make the initial guide contact and delivery as smooth as possible. I have an order for an R1T max pack, made in Mar 2020. I had given him a window for my move of Jan-June 2022, so my reading between the lines would lead me to conclude there is absolutely no way I was going to get my vehicle by then at either location. Fine with me, since I have been generally expecting it to be late 2022 if not 2023, but the one reviewer this week that asked Brian Gase if he would be able to get one by the end of 2022 if he ordered this week got a much more optimistic answer than I would have expected. Would love to have it before hunting season next year.
 

SuperFan86

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I'm in SC now, but spend a few months a year back in PA and am planning to move back to PA permanently in the first half of 2022. Since I have family in PA whose address I can use now, I reached out to customer service to see if they thought it would make any difference for me to change the address on my account now. I kind of asked them if my delivery time might be impacted in either direction based on the two regions, but as expected it was like throwing a fishing line in a mud puddle. He did respond that he thought it would be good for me to be proactive and change my address to make the initial guide contact and delivery as smooth as possible. I have an order for an R1T max pack, made in Mar 2020. I had given him a window for my move of Jan-June 2022, so my reading between the lines would lead me to conclude there is absolutely no way I was going to get my vehicle by then at either location. Fine with me, since I have been generally expecting it to be late 2022 if not 2023, but the one reviewer this week that asked Brian Gase if he would be able to get one by the end of 2022 if he ordered this week got a much more optimistic answer than I would have expected. Would love to have it before hunting season next year.
Maybe I'm interpreting what I've been reading on this forum wrong, but my impression is that guides are consistently saying they plan to have all LE R1Ts with Large Pack delivered by end of year.

Obviously that doesn't apply to your case, but I'm still holding out hope I'll have one in my driveway by Dec 31.

Of course the delivery date can slide for me without issue if the federal legislation changes to POS rebate. My primary concern with Dec 31 is having the luxury of getting the $7500 rebate in 4 months vs 16...
 

MoreTrout

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Maybe I'm interpreting what I've been reading on this forum wrong, but my impression is that guides are consistently saying they plan to have all LE R1Ts with Large Pack delivered by end of year.

Obviously that doesn't apply to your case, but I'm still holding out hope I'll have one in my driveway by Dec 31.

Of course the delivery date can slide for me without issue if the federal legislation changes to POS rebate. My primary concern with Dec 31 is having the luxury of getting the $7500 rebate in 4 months vs 16...
You are definitely missing what Rivian has said directly for a while now. All LE R1Ts will be delivered by Spring 2022. They have also repeatedly promised everyone that has a LE order that they will have guide contact by Thanksgiving. I think way back the plan was to have LE's by the end of the year, but that slid to Spring 2022 several months ago now.
 

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kurtlikevonnegut

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It appears that the configuration tool (updated with payment estimator) doesn't account for the Max Tax and is calculating the SC sales tax at 6% of the full sale price instead of capping at $500, just FYI. Unless something has changed since I last bought a car, the max tax should still apply in this case (feel free to correct if you know different).
 

CommodoreAmiga

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Welcome to the Carolinas Rivian group. I too am in Charlotte (Waxhaw) and probably closer to most of SC folks posting than Raleigh folks. Question will be, where will they put a Rivian service center. Closest one I've heard about is Atlanta. Was hoping for one in Charlotte at some point, or Ashville, since the RAN network of chargers goes up and down Blue Ridge Parkway.
According to the S1 filing, Rivian has no current plans to build a service center in either of the Carolinas. They claim they are not allowed to operate a service operation by state law in these states.
 

HokieBird7980

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According to the S1 filing, Rivian has no current plans to build a service center in either of the Carolinas. They claim they are not allowed to operate a service operation by state law in these states.
This does not make sense since there is a very large service center for TESLA in Charlotte off Independence Blvd. Why would Rivian be blocked and not TESLA?

Charlotte-Matthews
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9140 East Independence BlvdMatthews, NC 28105
Our showroom is located near Audi and Infiniti and the cross-street of Independence Boulevard.

Driving DirectionsStore (704) 845-0689
Roadside Assistance (877) 798-3752
Store Email
[email protected]

Store Hours
Monday - Saturday 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Service Hours
Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday By Appointment Only
 

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This does not make sense since there is a very large service center for TESLA in Charlotte off Independence Blvd. Why would Rivian be blocked and not TESLA?
In some cases the laws were passed after Tesla built their location, so they're grandfathered in. In some other states Tesla has lobbied for an exception that only applies to them.

This is a quote from the Rivian S1 filing:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1874178/000119312521289903/d157488ds1.htm said:
Only eight states prohibit us, as a manufacturer, from directly or indirectly owning or operating a service center providing warranty service. Those states are Alabama, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and West Virginia.
 

Autolycus

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This does not make sense since there is a very large service center for TESLA in Charlotte off Independence Blvd. Why would Rivian be blocked and not TESLA?

Charlotte-Matthews
  • Store
  • Service Center
9140 East Independence BlvdMatthews, NC 28105
Our showroom is located near Audi and Infiniti and the cross-street of Independence Boulevard.

Driving DirectionsStore (704) 845-0689
Roadside Assistance (877) 798-3752
Store Email
[email protected]

Store Hours
Monday - Saturday 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Service Hours
Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm
Saturday By Appointment Only
Tesla has limited grandfather status in NC because they had a manufacturer-controlled dealership with a license in North Carolina before March 1, 2019. See https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/ByArticle/Chapter_20/Article_12.pdf

The prohibition on manufacturers undertaking any "dealership activities" -- as Rivian phrased it -- has this exception:
The ownership, operation, or control of a maximum total number of five motor vehicle dealership locations within this State prior to December 31, 2020, or a maximum total number of six motor vehicle dealership locations within this State on or after January 1, 2021, by a manufacturer that manufactures and sells only motor vehicles that are plug-in electric vehicles that do not rely on any nonelectric source of power in all modes of operation; provided, however, that this subdivision shall be applicable only to a manufacturer that had at least one motor vehicle dealership licensed in this State by the Division as of March 1, 2019. The Division shall deny any motor vehicle dealer application that, if granted by the Division, would allow said manufacturer, or any parent, subsidiary, or other person or entity affiliated with the manufacturer, to own, operate, or control any more than the maximum total number of motor vehicle dealership locations in this State permitted by this subdivision. Provided further, that the Commissioner shall promptly revoke any motor vehicle dealer license granted under this section upon discovery of the occurrence of any of
the following events: ...
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