Tesla deserves credit for popularizing electric cars, but the technology is hardly all of their making. Indeed, one could say that the Tesla is the iPhone of cars - integrating existing technologies better than their competitors and showing what's possible. A lot of the other novel aspects of Tesla's cars suck though - the "giant iPad" interface, the "yoke" steering wheel, the electric door handles. Meanwhile the one thing that Musk has been talking about since 2015 at least (FSD) still doesn't exist at anywhere near the level he promised.
One could even argue that the electric car was inevitable, hybrids were already pushing electric drivetrains forward, and Musk was just in the right place at the right time.
If any of that were true it wouldn't be taking this long for auto companies with billions of cash to replicate and surpass Tesla, or for competitors to show with no ("giant iPad" interface, the "yoke" steering wheel, the electric door handles).
Instead they are still far behind and it's looking like some will probably literally die trying to compete. The battery technology at the very least has plenty of innovation. Teslas have some of the highest margins in cars and very less competition.
I mean, I think you may be suffering from US bias here (I’m assuming you’re in the US, or at least in a country with a similar auto market). The industry has, in general, not been prioritising the US market for electric cars, though this is starting to change (this shouldn’t be a big surprise; fuel is generally cheaper in the US than in Europe and the wealthy Asian economies, and range anxiety is a larger problem. Europe buys about four times as many electric cars as the US; China even more).
In the EU last year, Tesla was third in sales, after VW Group and Stellantis. It will likely be overtaken by Hyundai-Kia this year, and maybe by Renault. This also… shouldn’t be super surprising? The ‘catch-up’ argument is a little overblown; Renault’s Z-E platform and the Nissan Leaf are contemporaries of theTesla model S, and VW wasn’t far behind. Electric cars are likely having a moment more because battery prices started getting into the realms of the possible 15 years ago more than anything else.
In particular, it’s notable that VW group’s electric car market dominance is similar to its overall car market dominance.
For some it is, as they've hyped Tesla to the point they believe it will come to dominate even Ford. They think that just because Tesla has a higher market cap than Ford and GM that somehow will translate to Tesla dominating Ford and GM. And the reason they believe this is because they think TSLA is properly valued, and actually probably undervalued. They don't see the hype because they are the hype.
One could even argue that the electric car was inevitable, hybrids were already pushing electric drivetrains forward, and Musk was just in the right place at the right time.
Oh yeah, and he didn't even found Tesla.