> they've been building cars for a long time, far longer than Tesla.

In 2007 same could be said about Nokia vs Apple.

car manufacturing is far more advanced and difficult than a smartphone which you can carry on your hand.

Well, Tesla has been building electric vehicles infinitely longer than them, so

VW has been selling the e-Golf since 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Golf#Volkswagen_e-G...

It's not a great car, particularly as it's an adaptation of a gas car platform rather than a redesign, but it exists.

The e-Up! is a year older, from 2013.

In 1976, Volkswagen made a Rabbit with a 20 horsepower DC electric motor and a pile of lead acid batteries in the trunk where the spare tire would normally go.

Electric vehicles are easy, electric motors are easy and old technology, the only differentiating factor is the battery.

Once the supply side of batteries is resolved then any car manufacturer can easily make electric vehicles. Most already have. They're incredibly simpler than ICE vehicles.

Many say that this is precisely why automotive companies have been postponing the move to electric. A lot of the reason for major auto companies existence is that it used to take sophisticated multi-billion dollar organizations to design and manufacture high quality ICE engines.

Overall, "anyone can make an electric car" is bad for the incumbents. China has hundreds of electric car companies turning out surprisingly decent vehicles that are probably good enough for most of the world. The vacuum company Dyson is getting into electric cars.

Everything but the powertrain (including almost all of the safety technology from seats and airbags to sensors and driver assistance) is available from suppliers, so it really isn't out of the question for more new brands to disrupt the industry.

Yet Tesla is often criticized for attempting to disrupt the electric car market. They're too small; it takes years and billions to make a car line; they're too expensive. They can't get volume from suppliers to get a good price. And on and on.

How could others have it easier then? Maybe because those Chinese cars could never be on a road in the West, because they're dangerous and untested?

The only reason you see so many electric car companies in China is because of money laundering, scams and non existant regulatory enforcement.

There's no chance in hell China is ever going to release a car that people will trust/forced to trust outside of China. That would mean actual due diligence, not chabuduo. Especially, not after they put ecstacy in lego.

Xi should ditch the "2020 made in china", create a whole new country to label manufacturer label, "Made in Xina"

Xina? Hey I'll take it over "Made in China" because I'm a dumb ass consumer who has never seen Google Maps before.

I wonder how many people said the same of Japan and South korea

Don’t really understand why everyone is shitting on them ... more cheap EVs are good no?

Sure it might be a long shot but Tesla was a long shot too. Everyone was super enthusiastic.

Sure, but the only real main similarities are they both have bodies, tires, windows, seats and a steering wheel. Just about everything else is completely different and needs to be "invented." The hard stuff.

The car part is the easy part. The alternative 'fuel' part on the other hand..