zlacker

>>_fizz_+(OP)
Tesla has largely accomplished its original mission of “accelerating the world to sustainable energy”.

Tesla forced the entire industry to accelerate to EV. Toyota could have been that pioneer and mover.

Earlier this year Tesla adjusted their mission to push for “a world of amazing abundance” based on renewable energy, autonomous driving, robotics, and AI.

https://www.tesla.com/about

>>andsoi+3B
... I mean Tesla's first real production electric car (Model S) came out after the Leaf, and only a few months before VW AG's first production electric cars (VW had previously occasionally put out an electric version of the Golf on a small-scale basis, going back to _1992_, but those don't count, any more than the Tesla Roadster does). What _really_ happened is that, circa 2010, the economics started working; lithium ion batteries got into the cost range where it could work.

EVs were inevitable, and the timing was largely dictated by battery pricing.

>>rsynno+OE
Leaf and VW's electric offerings didn't capture the mind of people that EVs are good options.

Tesla made long-distance driving in EVs possible. Tesla made EV sexy, desirable. It catalyzed the Chinese EV industry. Neither Nissan nor VW remotely accomplished those things.

Like someone else said, people think in terms of a pre-Tesla and post-Tesla world. I don't know that there's a strong case against that framing.

>>andsoi+hP
Leaf captured enough of the mind of the people that it took until early 2020 for Tesla's cumulative number of cars sold to surpass Leaf's.