EVs and SC

By Mike Switzer

Published March 11, 2026 at 6:30 AM EDT

Mike Switzer, host of the South Carolina Business Review

There’s been plenty of news over the past year about electric vehicles, mostly not positive: tax incentives have disappeared causing the major car companies to pare back their EV manufacturing plans. Yet over 90% of current EV owners (full disclosure: myself included) say they would only consider buying an EV for their next vehicle. And our state could be seriously affected by these trends since some of our biggest economic development announcements over the past few years are involved in the EV industry. So let’s get an update from our resident EV industry expert, Alan Buck, organizer of the annual Drive Electric event, in Columbia, SC. April is Drive Electric Earth Month.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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