I don't get the fawning over Tesla -- their cars aren't that great, they aren't a great tech company ... they're valued highly and that's cool for their shareholders I guess but why would we want them in charge of any public infrastructure?
The tesla is far from perfect, its suspension isn't as tight or tuned as most sport package BMWs, but everything else is much better for the price imo.
For ~45k can you get an electric car that has similar acceleration, over the air updates, autopilot like capabilities, ease of charging and comfort?
If you draw the constraints close enough to the Model 3, you aren't going to find anything that beats the Model 3. I'd argue acceleration doesn't really belong on that list for most folks -- if it does for you, then go Model 3. Same goes for over the air updates. Most people just want an electric car to behave like an ICE car but not need 1) gas and 2) as much maintenance.
Beyond that, I reckon the pertinent bit when deciding if they'd get this hypothetical contract to build public infrastructure wouldn't be whether a single vehicle is now a good car in its class but how we got here. They have been bedeviled with build quality problems throughout their time -- as late as 2020 you had the weird wooden pieces and tape holding HVAC components together. That doesn't bode well for their crack at public infrastructure. They weren't profitable until recently and nearly went bankrupt. Not great. Their placement of service centers leaves a lot to be desired. Rolling out geographically is something they'll need to figure out for the project. New models are continually met with production delays. Not ideal.
So in sum depending on what you want I think the Leaf is a better entry level option, despite ChaDeMo, but it doesn't compete against anything because Tesla doesn't have anything you could call entry level. The Ioniq or Mach-E (despite gross Ford) are better midsize options. If you want performance, go Taycan. I'm not saying the Tesla is a terrible car by any means, I just think its overvalued as against what it provides and what the company is actually achieving.
Being first is worth something, and I'm sure they'll be around for a long time because of it. I still don't want them in charge of our public infrastructure.
P.S. Also the Boring Company seems dead after having given up on the hyper loop idea and slowly backpedaled.
Also, plenty of other manufacturers have almost gone bankrupt (or gone bankrupt) as well.
Mach-e looks like a great option. I'm skeptical their autopilot will work as well but it certainly looks like tesla has some competitors, but we'll see if they can scale up production.
I've never actually taken a car back to a dealership.
One reason I think the govt cannot be trusted with public infrastructure (again, California centric) is HSR. ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_High-Speed_Rail ) After two decades it still stalls with them working on the budget that has gone from 30 billion to 100 billion. No one in CA trusts the govt anymore for development of public infrastructure.
But who else? I hardly think Ford would try to bid for it.