> Tesla and his solar company use pretty conventional technology
The technology might be conventional, but having useful Electric cars on the road was looking like impossible task back in the days before Tesla roadster
The technology might be conventional, but having useful Electric cars on the road was looking like impossible task back in the days before Tesla roadster
All electric cars use pretty much the same technology. It's been developed by a variety of companies. No doubt Tesla has moved things along faster than if they weren't here, and they've made some fantastic products, but I think the economic argument for electric cars plays a far bigger role in their development than any one specific company.
Yes. Because the market didn't want electric cars, and if Tesla didn't force them down our throats it probably still wouldn't. At some point in the future the shift would eventually happen, but Tesla sped that process up.
The economic argument was: we're staying with IC, electric cars "aren't viable." Which means the entire global economy (yuge scale) is dependent on the IC / Petrol cartel, everyone with any amount of money is happy with the arrangment. If you want to go up against us, with no sponsorship from a big money distributor (they like petrol) then good luck!
Edit: Also before the S no one had produced an EV with the range/polish to make anyone think they were anything more than a pipe dream at our current stage.
General Motors EV1 in the 1990s. NiMH cars could travel 100–140 mi.
Its fans thought it was useful.