By: Copeland Jacobs, Contributing Writer
The tendency to view history as a straight line fails to account for the occasional technological oddity, such as one thing you and your great-great-great-grandparents can do but your grandparents probably couldn’t. The answer is driving an electric car.
The Department of Energy’s chronicle of the electric car’s beginnings shows electric vehicles predate gas-powered cars. The initial flush of marketable automobiles was powered by steam, electricity, and gas and first sold in the late 1800s. Steam cars were hardly a durable competitor, requiring nearly an hour to start and being limited in range by their water capacity.
In these halcyon days of motor travel, electric cars were the urbanite’s vehicle of choice, quieter than a gas-powered vehicle and incapable of making long journeys on the precariously paved- or unpaved- early highways.
Today, electric charging stations in South Carolina remain an urban phenomenon. According to Google Maps, there are no electric vehicle charging stations in Woodruff. However, according to the Environmental Protection Agency website, electric vehicles can be charged at home or at the 51,000 stations across the country, a definite advantage over gas-powered vehicles.
Once a rarified curiosity, electric vehicles are becoming a common and mundane sight on South Carolina roads. The Department of Energy stated there are 7,440 electric vehicles registered in South Carolina. California has the highest number of electric vehicles at 563,070. Florida occupies the second-highest slot with 95,640 electric vehicles.
According to the Department of Energy, the consumer considering buying an electric car has Toyota and Tesla to thank. Toyota’s Prius and Tesla largely paved the way for consumer acceptance of the previously science-fiction technology.
Electric and hybrid vehicles had to overcome the price barrier and consumer skepticism, as exemplified by the 2006 documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car.”
According to the International Energy Agency, the United States is the third-largest market for electric vehicles globally. According to the same report, electric car sales increased by 55%, and in the past year, electric cars had an 8% sales share. The IEA speculated high oil prices and government incentives will drive electric vehicle purchases in the near future.
Used electric vehicles on Carmax in the state are selling for as low as $24,399 for a 2013 Tesla Model S. The website Find My Electric pegs the average price of an electric car at $64,000, with the average price not accounting for the type of car at $48,000. A 2010 hybrid Toyota Prius on Carmax costs as low as $8,500. For comparison, on the Tesla website, a 2023 Model S is sold for $84,490.
According to Kelley Blue Book, the top-selling electric vehicle in 2022 was the Tesla Model Y, followed by the Tesla Model 3, with the Ford Mustang Mach-E in third place. According to the Environmental Protection Agency website, Tesla vehicles have the highest fuel economy and lowest carbon emissions.
A cursory Google Maps search will reveal South Carolina’s electric charging stations remain a mostly urban phenomenon. Most charging stations are in built-up areas and range from Tesla Superchargers to other brands.
The Environmental Protection Agency states on its website that electric vehicles now have the range required for necessary travel, though electric vehicles still have lower ranges than gasoline-powered vehicles.
The Hertz blog states there are currently 1.7 million electric cars in the United States out of 285 million vehicles. For scale, the Census Bureau said the present American population is 334,981,215. However, the same Hertz article stated the greatest presence and demand for electric vehicles is on the other side of the United States, in California, attributing the higher numbers to state subsidies.
The electrification of Woodruff’s transportation is getting a boost from BMW’s Woodruff plant, which will produce high-voltage batteries. The Woodruff plant will cost $700 million to construct, stated BMW in a press release.
It was announced in 2022 in another press release detailing the expansion of the company’s electric vehicle production operations in South Carolina, including a $1 billion investment in Plant Spartanburg, which exports BMWs back to Germany.
In a poll, Woodruff residents were asked their opinion on electric vehicles on Facebook. The general tenor of responses was skeptical and hesitant. Based on the available sampling of local opinion, Woodruff isn’t going to be a major driver in electric car use in South Carolina, barring a massive shift in attitudes. Of car dealerships in and around Woodruff, Davis Auto Sales has no electric vehicles in stock, and Woodruff Chevrolet sells electric Chevys.
That isn’t surprising given the record of supposedly revolutionary technology promising immense benefits and spectacular features before fizzling out and fading into obscurity, of which VR had the highest profile and is presently nowhere to be found in the public eye. Electric vehicles have made inroads to acceptance but have a long way to go in Woodruff.
One respondent said they would never consider an electric vehicle because “I’m old school,” while a different resident said they did not want to buy an electric car because of price, battery life, and the “Dependability is still unknown.”
Another respondent who does not own an electric vehicle said they would consider buying one for the environment from “The best” brand available, while another said they would buy a KIA EV because they are efficient, quiet, and don’t require oil changes.
Yet another respondent said they would never consider buying an electric vehicle, stating they cost too much. A Woodruff resident who stated they would consider purchasing an electric vehicle said they would because electric vehicles are cheaper in the long run, though with the caveat there aren’t enough charging stations yet. However, they expect more will be available in the future. Another Woodruff resident expressed concern their power grid wouldn’t be able to handle an electric vehicle.
Electric cars are increasingly popular and affordable, but are the state’s roads ready for them? Electric-powered rubber meeting the road may be part of a new, unprecedented problem. According to Axios, electric cars are heavier than gasoline-engine vehicles.
The Axios article about the problems posed by the heaviness of electric cars said they could be anywhere from hundreds to thousands of pounds heavier, and heavier vehicles are more likely to cause fatalities when they crash into pedestrians.
The article added that the increase in vehicle weight was not exclusively driven by the adoption of electric cars, as Americans have been buying more SUVs and pickups over smaller, lighter passenger cars.
This has not gone unnoticed, as an NPR article mentioned a speech delivered earlier this year in January by the National Transportation Safety Board chair, Jennifer Homendy, about the potential dangers of electric vehicle weight resulting from heavier batteries.
Homendy said electric vehicles posed a greater danger of “severe injury and death” because of the “increasing size, power, and performance of vehicles on our roads, including electric vehicles.”
But how ready are the state’s roads for the growing number of heavier electric vehicles? South Carolina’s roads are not highly regarded. ABC Columbia said Consumer Affairs ranked South Carolina’s roads the ninth worst in the United States in 2022, an improvement from when Explore Beaufort said in 2020 that South Carolina had the worst roads in the country.
The state government is not unaware of these issues. The South Carolina Department of Transportation has developed a Ten-Year Plan for dealing with road issues from what the SCDOT called “three decades of neglect.” The main points are highway safety, repairing structurally deficient bridges, resurfacing roads, and widening the interstates.
On their website, the SCDOT said roads have been resurfaced, 140 miles of interstate have been improved, 465 bridges have been replaced, and 1000 miles of safety features have been added to rural roads.
The South Carolina Department of Transportation said the amount of road work has increased from $1 billion in 2009 to around $4.4 billion in 2023, and the year is not over yet. However, the same report stated 63% of South Carolina’s interstate bridges will need replacement or repair, unsurprising given many of the bridges along the interstate are over half a century old.
Taking a step back, we can conclude that electric cars are less the future made possible than the past made practical, and they still have a way to go before complete acceptance in Woodruff. The BMW battery manufacturing facility, which will provide local jobs connected to electric vehicles, may encourage Woodruff residents to see electric vehicles as more mundane and easily obtainable.
Author: Tracy Sanders
