I would love to see your economic theory why this is the case.
More competition (some of which hits the market 1-2 years before the Model3 is ready) is good for Tesla? Economies of scale at LG or Samsung are good for Tesla and its giant battery plant?
TSLA bulls should make up their mind: It's either "Tesla is years ahead and no one else is serious about EVs, except for crappy compliance cars" or "everybody offering longer-range, dedicated EVs is good for Tesla". But it can't be both.
PS: I obviously subscribe to neither theory. More EVs may be good for car consumers, but will lead to lower margins for producers, especially in the incredibly competitive $30-50k (upper) mass-market segment.
I see many places where the competition is likely to make misteps of miss something with their long range EVs. Tesla is the only company that has made a production, long range BEV thus far, and they have worked out the kinks. I strongly suspect the upper management in the big car companies think long range travel issues have largely been sorted because the CCS and CHaDamo standards are out there and they have a high power version as part of the spec. It looks like the car companies are trying to avoid going into the energy delivery business like Tesla has done and I think the first year of their long range BEV will be plagued with stories of problems charging on the road, while many news stories will be contrasting these problems with Tesla's solution.
Added to that, all of these new BEVs have target production numbers that are fairly low and I don't think their battery suppliers can increase production quickly to meet demand for a 100K+ BEV right now. Tesla is putting in the infrastructure to build 500,000 Model 3s a year. Even if the Bolt turns out to be a highly popular car, Chevy may not be able to make enough of them and will lose sales to Tesla who will have the capacity.
Tesla will also be able to make batteries cheaper than anyone else once the Gigafactory is up and running. A lot of money and time is lost in the car business building components in remote locations and sending them around the world. Elon Musk, who is first and foremost a numbers guy, has run the numbers and figured that it's ultimately a lot cheaper to build batteries in the US with higher labor costs if everything is done in one place and the trip from the battery plant to final production factory is short.
Tesla also has a reputation among electric cars like Hewlett Packard used to have in most of its market niches (before a certain CEO destroyed their rep). When I was in college, we all needed a scientific calculator (engineering), and the calculator almost everyone wanted was an HP 41. It was expensive, but it was also the best. It still is an excellent calculator. A used one in good condition on Ebay today may sell for more than its original sales price. HP was the top of the line calculator. It was also a leader in electronic test instruments, was a leader in the printer market, and a number of other areas.
Tesla is likely going to continue to have a reputation like HP did. No matter what BEVs other car makers bring out, a large number of consumers will want a Tesla.
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If the vast majority of car buyers were asking themselves: "Which EV should I buy?" Then, competition might be a problem for Tesla.
The problem is, nobody is asking that. In fact, only a very small subset of car buyers are even asking: "Should I buy ICE or EV?"
The vast majority of car buyers only ask themselves: "Which ICE should I buy?"
So if more and more supposed EV "competition" arrives and EV awareness increases, it will grow that small subset of car buyers asking: "Should I buy ICE or EV?" Only then will more people ask: "Which EV should I buy?" So by then, even if a small percentage of those people answer "Tesla", it will be a big increase compared to today, where again most people as simply asking: "Which ICE should I buy?"
As mainstream car companies bring out BEVs, they will be inevitably be compared to Teslas in articles which will get more people curious about Tesla. I agree very few people are asking which EV they should buy. Most people don't believe EVs are really feasible today.
