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Hello SCCDA members and friends!
While driving home, a headline from this week’s business news jerked me to attention. “Japanese “flying car’ manufacturer to enter US market with South Carolina headquarters”? For anyone who watched the Jetsons as a child, there is no doubt anymore -- we’ve arrived. Sure, Jetson gadgets have incrementally become reality: the flat screen TV, the video chat, Rosey the robotic maid – or at least the Rosey the Roomba. But a flying car?
Welcome, 2023! The company bringing the “flying car” is SkyDrive, which made the announcement this month at the annual VFS eVTOL Symposium in Mesa, Arizona; it has plans to open an office in Beaufort County.
Electric vehicles are gaining market share at a much quicker pace than predicted, now expected to outsell combustion engines by 2040 – just 17 years from now. In January, a company called Proterra in Greer produced its first EV, or electric vehicle battery. And just a month before, Redwood Materials a producer of anode and cathode battery components for electric vehicles, announced plans to establish operations in Berkeley County.
The company’s $3.5 billion investment, which marks the largest economic development announcement in the history of South Carolina, will create 1,500 new jobs. This South Carolina campus will create a circular supply chain for electric vehicles.
It’s true, South Carolina has become a launching pad for the future. What does this mean for career development and workforce professionals? Change.
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