The thing that's a little different about Tesla in the US at least, is he is so incredibly fetishized by eg high-profile idiots: https://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla, or conspiracy nutjobs like the International Tesla Institute (http://teslatech.info/ttevents/prgframe.htm http://tesla.org/tesla_fair_abq.htm) publishing and promoting Tesla related conspiracies and hawking investments in snake-oil technology like Rand Cam engines, VMSK, and all manner of "over-unity" machines