Prediction: In the next few years governments will start to require cars to be electric, and the car companies will support it.

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Only in California

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Think about it. Everyone will be pissed, but ultimately people won't do shit and they'll just buy another car. So if they say something like by 2022 all cars on the road must be electric, there will be a massive surge in sales for the car companies. This will also cut the competition from the smaller companies that don't have electric models.

Tesla is the fastest growing car company, but Toyota and Chevrolet both sell more electric cars then Tesla. They're probably waiting for that moment when their production numbers will meet the surge in demand, and Tesla is likely a thorn in the side of the big boys.

Just some thoughts.

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toddr13 · 46-50, M

Tesla lost its cachet when it started to chase the mass market, which it needs to do in order to be profitable. That, and the Model X and the Model S were not exactly the most reliable, or easily repaired. Anyone I know who bought one of the early Teslas wanted the exclusivity, and were leaving Jaguar, Mercedes, and BMW. As a concept, I do hope Tesla succeeds, but the leadership needs to change because it's an auto company, not a tech company, which is part of the struggle that the company has had, where a self-congratulatory visionary leader sees the company as a reflection of his own ego.

Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, GM, Toyota, Honda, and Ford are all working on electric vehicles, but the full electric market is still a niche market. Toyota was incredibly successful with the introduction of the Prius and the hybrid drive train in 1997, gas-electric, and then a full plug-in electric option from 2012. The Prius is also exceptionally reliable, just boring and plain. In comparison, the Model S was fresh, sleek, and unique, but the Model 3 looks too similar for half the price or less, whereas a Lexus LS hybrid looks nothing like a Prius, yet both are Toyota. Similar design language in a Premium platform is to be expected, from Jaguar and BMW to Mercedes and Rolls-Royce, but the top models are differentiated enough in look, features, and performance, something lost with Tesla as it seems to a project-oriented company, operating as a tech firm, not a full range auto manufacturer.

Major manufacturers support what consumers will buy, no doubt, but the demand isn't there yet. Also, the infrastructure for recharging is woefully inadequate to begin to mandate all electric vehicle fleets for everyone. Even Tesla has struggled as there are more vehicles on the market wanting to use the same charging stations. Petroleum based fuels are much more widely and evenly distributed, at present, so without a major switch in the way vehicles are powered with convenience and real-world sensibilities, all-electric is not practical in all applications.