Re:Tesla co-founder and CTO JB Straubel stepping down
by Lazare on Thursday July 25, 2019 @07:53PM
(#20531052)
I agree. BEVs are, I think, inevitable, and one person or company can only do very little to shift the timeline one way or another.
Which impact Tesla has had, if any, is impossible to measure. It's not even entirely clear that the impact was positive.
(Imagine that a large car company or well funded startup was contemplating a massive investment in BEVs to try and get a first mover advantage, but Tesla got there first, so they decided to invest in hybrids or a new range of SUVs instead. In this word, "but for" Tesla, BEVs might be even more widely adopted. Of course, we have no reason to think that's true, but then, we have no reason to think that, "but for" Tesla, nobody would have done anything with EVs for another 10 years either, and that doesn't stop people from wildly speculating...)
Which impact Tesla has had, if any, is impossible to measure. It's not even entirely clear that the impact was positive.
(Imagine that a large car company or well funded startup was contemplating a massive investment in BEVs to try and get a first mover advantage, but Tesla got there first, so they decided to invest in hybrids or a new range of SUVs instead. In this word, "but for" Tesla, BEVs might be even more widely adopted. Of course, we have no reason to think that's true, but then, we have no reason to think that, "but for" Tesla, nobody would have done anything with EVs for another 10 years either, and that doesn't stop people from wildly speculating...)