Tesla Motors is already selling drivetrain-and-battery to Toyota for the RAV4 EV, range 100 miles. I can see other manufacturers taking the same route to get themselves into the EV game quickly.
But TM's first-mover advantage also extends to Superchargers, at least for cars with a range of 200+ miles. The existing public chargers are focused on 80-mile-range vehicles and they will be perceived as too slow when charging 2-3x the battery capacity. Imagine TM licensing unlimited refueling for other EVs as they begin to expand existing Superchargers after the build-out is done, say at $3000 per car.
There is already some discussion of this at http://seekingalpha.com/article/1923251-superchargers-as-a-profit-center-for-tesla .
But TM's first-mover advantage also extends to Superchargers, at least for cars with a range of 200+ miles. The existing public chargers are focused on 80-mile-range vehicles and they will be perceived as too slow when charging 2-3x the battery capacity. Imagine TM licensing unlimited refueling for other EVs as they begin to expand existing Superchargers after the build-out is done, say at $3000 per car.
There is already some discussion of this at http://seekingalpha.com/article/1923251-superchargers-as-a-profit-center-for-tesla .