I also think that history will show, regardless of any other surviving OEMs, that Tesla single-handedly did do it all by themselves.
As an example; Who told the world that battery production was going to be essential and that many new battery factories needed to be built? Who started that off before they even had the money to do it? And who dragged an existing battery mfger kicking and screaming along with them and subsequently turned that part of that company’s business back into a profit center?
There are dozens upon dozens of additional examples like that, of Tesla dragging, pulling or forcing other companies to be successful. WTF even!
Yeah, Tesla is in fact doing it all by themselves.
Not all, just the ones that don’t deserve to survive. So that’s most, but not all. I can’t help my fairness genetics...
Did anybody suggest all should be saved? I hope no capitalist would ever suggest such.
We probably all have a list of probable survivors and others even now on life support which oddly die quickly without strong external support.
Tesla doing it all by themselves? Even the most arrogant Teslaphile knows better than that. As Elon has repeatedly said. Tesla would not have survived had not Toyota given them the Fremont factory for the modest prove that Toyota itself funded and bought the original RAV4 EV drivetrain from Tesla. Then the Model S would not have happened without Mercedes Benz that bought Model B EV drivetrain for them and provided switchgear, following system, suspension and other supplier help. Then there is the US government loan.
Those are only three. Elon has more examples.
Truthfully without Tesla and Elon most of EV development would have been much slower, and without Elon Tesla as we know it would not have happened.
Obviously all three of those did very, very well from their arrangements with Tesla.
That is quite different than "...doing it all by themselves".
Even now Tesla thrives because of many factors including cooperative governments making new factories easier, suppliers providing crucial elements.
We must know that the Chinese government and Shanghai government gave crucial help to Tesla. The Brandenburg government does too, as do those of multiple parts of Texas.
Tesla and Elon are heroic! They're crucial. By exaggerating their achievements we diminish their accomplishments. Were we discussing SpaceX we'd need to add NASA, without their support SpaceX would not have survived.
So, absolutely much of those enabling figures and to be kicked, cajoled and tricked into cooperating. Tesla and Elon deserve credit for that too.
But no, Tesla's not doing it by themselves. Elon would never say such a thing. He knows better.