John McDermott
John McDermott tracks how major corporate investments, industrial projects and market shifts shape the South Carolina economy, with recurring coverage of automotive manufacturing and electric vehicles. He is the business editor at The Post and Courier, a role he has held since 2006. His reporting blends clear explanations with hard numbers, showing how decisions by automakers, energy companies, retailers and investors affect jobs, capital flows and local communities.
Automotive Manufacturing and Electric Vehicles
McDermott covers the growth of electric vehicle manufacturing through detailed reporting on Polestar’s production launch at the Volvo Cars campus in Ridgeville. He explains how the Polestar 3 SUV shares a platform with Volvo’s EX90, allowing both models to be built simultaneously on the same manufacturing line and noting that about one Polestar 3 is produced for every two EX90s. His coverage shows how Polestar uses South Carolina production to avoid 100 percent tariffs on Chinese-made EVs while serving U.S. buyers and exporting vehicles to Europe through the Port of Charleston.
He sets those plant-level decisions in a global frame, reporting that Polestar also builds the 3 in Chengdu for the Chinese market, plans to manufacture the Polestar 4 in South Korea, and is seeking a European partner to expand its footprint.
McDermott lays out the company’s ambitions with specific targets, including plans to boost annual sales to more than 155,000 vehicles in 2025 and to launch additional models such as an electric four-door GT and an electric roadster. He also follows Polestar’s broader expansion plans, including periods when its South Carolina growth strategy is in flux. Taken together, these stories show him treating automotive manufacturing, trade policy and multi-country production strategy as central to the state’s role in the EV sector.
Energy, Infrastructure and Large-Scale Investment
Beyond autos, McDermott reports on major energy projects and infrastructure investments that carry multi-billion-dollar price tags and long timelines.
In coverage of an investor effort to revive a $2.7 billion nuclear plant project, he tracks key deadlines and the financial and regulatory hurdles that determine whether the facility returns to life. He details Google’s plan to channel $9 billion over two years into South Carolina operations, framing the initiative as an effort to put the state “into the AI fast lane” and examining how data centers, road control and land issues intersect with local business and government.
On business news broadcasts, he updates listeners on developments at utilities such as Dominion Energy, including rate hikes and a sale that would create one of the world’s largest regulated power companies. These stories show him treating energy, infrastructure and technology investment as core drivers of the regional economy, connecting capital spending and regulation to everyday conditions for businesses and residents.
Retail, Restaurants and Main Street Business
McDermott regularly turns to retail, restaurants and smaller enterprises as ground-level indicators of economic and demographic change. He covers grocery chains such as Food Lion as they scout and secure sites for new stores, detailing locations, development plans and how added square footage fits into competitive dynamics in local markets. His reporting on Aldi’s expansion into additional suburbs walks readers through site selection, permitting and the broader push by value-focused grocers to capture growing consumer demand.
He writes about new restaurants, including burger concepts that open with buy-one-get-one offers, focusing on how operators use promotions, neighborhood choice and branding to build early traffic. When established names like the Sticky Fingers Rib House chain enter bankruptcy, McDermott traces the path from prior growth to restructuring and explains how debt loads, ownership changes and shifting tastes reshape a once-expanding barbecue brand.
This mix of openings, expansions and restructurings gives a clear view of how national and regional chains respond to local spending patterns, costs and competition.
Corporate Deals, Finance and Labor
His coverage also spans corporate transactions, capital markets activity and conflicts between employers and workers. Archive pieces show McDermott reporting on strikes by about 17,000 AT&T workers in the Southeast, including hundreds in South Carolina, explaining how the work stoppage affects installation, maintenance and customer service operations. He writes about negligence litigation tied to Snapchat’s “Speed” filter, connecting a social media feature to allegations of harm and local court action.
McDermott tracks financial sector developments such as United Community Banks beginning to trade on the New York Stock Exchange shortly after a sharp market sell-off, giving context on investor sentiment and the bank’s strategic move to the Big Board. He reports on a venture capital-led financing round for Gigpro, noting the role of earlier backers and what fresh capital means for the startup’s growth.
His coverage of Ingevity’s consolidation plan shows how industrial companies restructure operations and what those changes mean for facilities and employees. He also notes shifts in federally underwritten property insurance policies and civic initiatives like Goose Creek’s arts-themed “goose chase” fundraiser, treating federal programs and local marketing efforts as part of the wider business landscape.
Across these stories, McDermott emphasizes the interplay between boardroom decisions, legal risk, financing and labor conditions, and how that interplay shapes the economy he covers.
4 more automobile journalists.
Aarian Marshall
Aarian Marshall is a staff writer at WIRED who stands out for covering how cars, software, and policy collide. She writes on transportation systems and cities, from the auto industry to broader mobility systems. Before WIRED, she reported on cities and urban policy for The Atlantic’s CityLab. Her beat runs from electric vehicles, fuel prices, tariffs, and car-buying decisions to autonomous vehicles, robotaxis, and software-defined cars. She reports with a systems view, linking policy shifts, technical failures, and urban life to what happens on streets, in repair shops, and at the pump.
Abby Smith
Abby Smith’s most distinctive work combines motorsports coverage with live digital and radio reporting. She is Digital Director at KRDO13 and covers the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, including race updates, weather shifts, breaking developments and ways to follow the action. Her beat also includes automotive news, crime, public safety, politics, city government and community life. Notable work includes coverage of homicide arrests, a major drug bust, a presidential address about the war with Iran, a family’s effort to bring Stephen Hubbard home, a state governor candidate and a city security ordinance. She also reports on fitness, school spirit and station staff. Smith writes in a concise, factual style shaped by investigative documentary experience. She turns live events, official announcements and daily developments into clear coverage across digital and radio platforms.
Adele Peters
Adele Peters covers climate solutions and other structural problems as design and policy questions, focusing on what can work in practice. She is a senior writer at Fast Company, where she reports on energy, transportation, housing, materials, agriculture, corporate sustainability, and social impact. Her stories examine climate technologies, grid resilience, electric vehicles, renewable energy, modular construction, homelessness, affordable housing, compostable materials, regenerative agriculture, and ecosystem restoration. She looks at whether projects can scale, their real-world constraints, and their measurable effects. She interviews political and philanthropic leaders, startup founders, and climate tech entrepreneurs, anchoring stories in what is being built and tested. She has written more than 3,000 stories and contributed to Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century and State of Housing Design 2023.
Adrian Leung
Adrian Leung writes engineering-led coverage of Chinese electric vehicles and performance cars for CarNewsChina. He focuses on new energy vehicles, battery systems, powertrains, electric platforms, high-end domestic brands, and track-ready models, and he explains technical details in plain language for non-specialist readers. His reporting treats new models as hardware and systems stories, with precise figures on range, battery capacity, chassis layout, motor outputs, weight, and acceleration. He also covers the Chinese auto industry’s finances and technology roadmap, including sector profits, vehicle volumes, and solid-state battery timelines. His background in Electrical and Computer Engineering shows in the way he writes about vehicle electronics and battery management.