JOHN SCHAEFER Owner, Schaefer Atelier
PAGE 4 VOLUME 27 NUMBER 25 ■ CHARLESTONBUSINESS.COM
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accelerating in heavy EV By Molly Hulsey
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Great outdoors
Millions pour in to develop parks and other greenspace projects in development. Page 27
Major engineering
College of Charleston adds electrical engineering major to support area employers. Page 12
Call center HQ
Swedish call center company brings U.S. headquarters, 450 jobs to South Carolina. Page 3
INSIDE
Upfront................................. 2 SC Biz News Briefs................. 3 Small Business Spotlight........ 4 In Focus: Architecture, Engineering and Construction.......................27 List: Commercial Property Management Companies..... 41 At Work...............................43 Viewpoint........................... 45 Day in the Life......................47
Christmas trees at Delancey Street, a nonprofit that helps people struggling to reenter the workforce, save lives, brighten holidays. Page 11 (Photo/Teri Errico Griffis)
mhulsey@scbiznews.com
uto companies unable to adjust to the coming tide of change — electrification, autonomy and connectivity — will likely not survive the next decade. That was the perspective of Andraes Bareid, electric vehicle account manager for the ERP software company Qad, picked up from the auto industry in 2019. Bareid said the prediction was only amplified during this year’s struggles in the automotive sector as ships, heavy with cargo containers, stalled outside ports, and glistening lines of undriven cars awaited computer chips. The industry as a whole contracted by 16% in 2020, while the electric car market expanded by 41% year-over-year, according to the International Energy Agency’s 2021 outlook report. “Little did we know how the pandemic would act as a catalyst to this change,” he said. “It’s not only regulatory change, consumer behavior, supply chain shortages, but it’s also how we are choosing things differently.” Lightweight consumer vehicles tend to take the drivers’ seat when it comes to electric vehicles, but the past year has prompted a flush of investment in heavy-duty transit and commercial vehicle production. “The transformation is accelerating,” Brett Pope, electric vehicle director of Volvo Trucks North America, told the crowd at the 2021 S.C. Manufacturing Conference and Expo in November. “We clearly see that when we talk to our customers and talk to our customers’ customers.” Volvo Trucks North America, with headquarters in Greensboro, N.C., began manufacturing two electric tractors and a See ELECTRIC, Page 10
CHARLESTON UNDER CONSTRUCTION Who is building what in the Charleston area? Projects, companies, prices, projected timelines, photos and stories. Page 30