https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-three-lessons-from-tesla-s-rise-to-the-top-of-the-car-industry-20200114-p53r77.html

Without a grant from the US government Department of Energy he never would have gotten his start. 

And....?

How many billions are traditional car manufacturers given in grants, subsidies, rebates and tax incentives over the years?  Hint 100's.

I'll be curious what occurs with Tesla once the big boys release their EV's to market.
For the likes of MB for eg, their distribution footprint is massive and I expect their volume capacity will be hitting the ground running.
Tesla's race atm is reducing their wait time for customers, the China plant will help but they need more, especially for Export markets.
This is where MB/Audi/VW/Bimmer then the Jap/Korean will be really giving Tesla a run for their money.
Which is great nothing like competition, I predict also one of them will buy Tesla sooner or later.
Ford is releasing their SUV Mach E and F150 has soon to hit the market as well.

The Tesla market value is too high for any of them to buy them out.

Telsa has the problem of getting over 300k cars made per year. The big guys are in the millions and once that kicks you, Tesla would be hoping they have enough market penetration. The Hyundai Kona seems to be a decent EV as well. That would go against the Model 3.

Pretty sure he started the company not to become the biggest but to make electric cars a commercial reality.  That was ages ago though he may have shifted the goalposts since then.  (I'm not a Tesla fanboi.)

I thought that too but it has grown in market value which makes it hard for the majors to acquire. Tesla will face a lot of pressure when the rest of the industry shifts over and that would be less than 10 years. I don't know if they would have that much runway to get a decent market share in the car market. If not, they will become a niche brand imo.

Musk is all over the shop, need these types but rockets/space is his interest atm.
Tesla is not out of reach for Das Auto/MB or even toyota if inclined.
No matter the Tesla head start as I said, once the main usual players have their product to market they will eat Tesla share, not all but it will decrease quicker than you think.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-51366123

UK to ban ICEs from 2035.

Oh, I'm somewhat disappointed with this thread, as I thought it was going to be about Scalextric cars. 😟

Carry on, don't mind me as it seems I have a long way to go before growing up 🤔😟😜😀

Hahaha, I've got a nice collection to go with my Ninco digital track but never did I think anyone else here would care for it 😅

Scalextric owner here.  4 lanes.  Not digital.

4 lane setup is pretty sweet though, nice. Time to get some laps in when the inevitable lockdown occurs!

Only ever had AFX. Although, the TYCO cars worked on it too.
My older brother, when he turned 18 and my dad shut his business down, bought so many different sets and cars off eBay, laid cardboard all down the room and we used to spend Monday nights watching Fat Pizza, South Park, and having mega-races

Sounds like an awesome childhood memory, business shutting down aside. AFX is still great too, sets like Thunderloop Thriller helped get more mainstream people into the hobby. Still have mine somewhere :)

Same.
I had always wanted to get a digital set as they look great fun.

This thread topic about "Electric car sets" is awesome (and now possibly very costly/expensive 😟😩).

To whoever came up with the idea for this thread's topic, thanks, you're like the best ever!!! 😉😁

When I was a kid, my next door neighbour who was a wee bit younger than me got that set from his parents for Christmas one year.  The things was he was really into the whole 'cops and robbers' thing.  So not long after getting the AFX set all set-up for him, and played with it a bit he got bored with it and wanted to go play 'cops and robbers'.  To my horror, he goes and cuts the wire/cords from the controllers so he could use the controllers as guns 😳 

They must has surely been close to being the most expensive toy guns one could buy at the time 😃

Yet, he could do no wrong and his parents didn't seem too bothered one bit. He was such a spoilt brat. He got treated like he could do no wrong. His two sisters (both older) on the other hand? A completely different story 😕😞

Oh man, I used to have one of those AFX slot car sets when I was a kid, just from the mention in this thread I can smell the ozone created by the arc between the track and the car!

I remember taking off the housing of the cars and watching the little electric motor spinning as it went, thinking "why can't full size cars have this?" Obviously now we know that they could have all along, if it weren't for the powerful vested interests.

In all my early years playing with scalectrics looking at the brush electric motors it never entered my mind thinking why can't this eventuate in normal cars, heck I was a kid who thinks as such but pala, maybe you were ahead of time and all.

Progress, it will come, from donkeys to horse n cart to motor car, electric will come in time.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/851757/tritium-electric-car-charging-technology/

Sad but true.  WTF?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLflYkgnNBY