The 36,200$ 2018 NISSAN LEAF® SL has a 151 mile range in theory, but you need a significant reserve meaning it's effectively significantly smaller than that. With a 30 mile reserve that's ~121 miles. And needs another $1590 to get a quick charge port and cable.
Tesla has continuously had a backlog of sales IMO because nobody else has gotten a great electric car to market.
Again, the Leaf has been getting much better over time and may work well for many people.
Full disclosure, I own a 2015 Leaf and I have a reservation for a 3.
What's your definition of mass production?
Tesla, a 14 year old company, has been developing electric vehicles for 14 years and has 3 mass produced vehicles that have sold over 230k units in the last 3 years.
edit: cute downvotes, but the fact is GM was the modern pioneer on electric vehicles.
"The General Motors EV1 was an electric car produced and leased by General Motors from 1996 to 1999. It was the first mass-produced and purpose-designed electric vehicle of the modern era from a major automaker"
If you want to be technical about it though, then Pope Mfg deserves credit first the first mass-produced EV, released in...1897. (see http://www.pbs.org/now/shows/223/electric-car-timeline.html)
Cost estimates for the EV1 range from $80-250k per car, the $250k figure came from Bob Lutz, a GM Vice Chairman. and 3.
If you ever actually experienced the EV1 then you'd know that it pales in comparison to even the lowest end Leaf. It was a production version of Impact concept from which it was derived with only minor improvements. This was a 1990s quality GM car with a trim level around that of a Cavalier in a package smaller than a Honda Del Sol.
GM introduced the concept of an electric car to the public but the image they portrayed was unfavorable at best. You didn't look at the EV1 and think "this will take over the world", you thought "I could make that in my garage over the weekend."
Tesla gets credit for delivering the first no compromise EV and one that's actually inspirational.
Nissan gets credit for delivering the first EV that just about anyone can own or see themselves drive.
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Cost to produce, 500,000$ each. GM had zero interest in rolling these things out to the public and it showed.
Adjust for inflation and that's well over 700,000$ each in today's money.
Cost per unit would have dropped if they where making 10,000 + / year. However, that was not their goal.
"One industry official said that each EV1 cost the company about US$80,000, including research, development and other associated costs;[67] other estimates placed the vehicle's actual cost as high as $100,000.[2] Bob Lutz, GM Vice Chairman responsible for the Chevrolet Volt, in November 2011 stated the EV1 cost $250,000 each and leased for just $300 per month.[68] GM stated the cost of the EV1 program at slightly less than $500 million before marketing and sales costs, and over $1 billion in total, although a portion of this cost was defrayed by the Clinton Administration's $1.25 billion Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program.[69][70][71] In addition, all manufacturers seeking to produce electric cars for market consumption also benefited from matching government funds committed to the United States Advanced Battery Consortium."
Anything else is subject to spin as for example it costs money to setup a factory making just (parts) + (labor costs) overly optimistic. Similarly marketing and sales costs can easily inflate unit costs to make it look worse.
On the other hand if GM could have used current battery technology and current battery costs they may have tried to make it work. But, it was clear at the time it was going to fail so they had fewer incentives to keep costs down.
You're not actually reading the paragraph. It says that the government contributed an unspecified amount from a $1.25 Billion budget to GM. And that the contribution defrayed the stated costs by GM which means a portion of the $500 million they spend was grant money.
Why is Tesla getting kudos for something Nissan did first?