Tbh I don’t actually have any sources for cars using the patent, it was my understanding however that a number of the patents were related to things like how the batteries were designed. As such, it makes logical sense to me that the explosion of electric cars with Tesla-like ranges would indicate that they were using Tesla’s tech to some extent. However, after your reply I did look to see if there was any concrete information about whether or not anyone is using them, and found this article from 2015 in which Musk claims there are/were multiple parties using their patents. That’s Musk’s claim though, and he didn’t provide any proof for it so take that with a grain of salt.
Secondly, something to note is that the Chevy Volt (2010) didn’t launch until after the Tesla Roadster (2008) had already been released. What’s important, imo, is that the previous full-electric cars were cars like the GM EV-1, Ford Ranger EV, Chrysler TEVan, Chevy S-10 EV, Honda EV Plus, or the infamous G-Wiz. All of these cars have something in common, which is that they were very slow, had very short ranges, took a long time to charge, and were fairly expensive and/or had a very limited run (or you had to be entered into a lottery to buy one). Some, like the GM EV-1 were forcefully recalled and destroyed after their makers got bored of them and declared them a failure. Finally, I like this quote from the Wikipedia article on the history of electric cars:
In an August 2009 edition of The New Yorker, GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz was quoted as saying, “All the geniuses here at General Motors kept saying lithium-ion technology is 10 years away, and Toyota agreed with us – and boom, along comes Tesla. So I said, ‘How come some tiny little California startup, run by guys who know nothing about the car business, can do this, and we can’t?’ That was the crowbar that helped break up the log jam.”
Tbh I don’t actually have any sources for cars using the patent, it was my understanding however that a number of the patents were related to things like how the batteries were designed. As such, it makes logical sense to me that the explosion of electric cars with Tesla-like ranges would indicate that they were using Tesla’s tech to some extent. However, after your reply I did look to see if there was any concrete information about whether or not anyone is using them, and found this article from 2015 in which Musk claims there are/were multiple parties using their patents. That’s Musk’s claim though, and he didn’t provide any proof for it so take that with a grain of salt.
Secondly, something to note is that the Chevy Volt (2010) didn’t launch until after the Tesla Roadster (2008) had already been released. What’s important, imo, is that the previous full-electric cars were cars like the GM EV-1, Ford Ranger EV, Chrysler TEVan, Chevy S-10 EV, Honda EV Plus, or the infamous G-Wiz. All of these cars have something in common, which is that they were very slow, had very short ranges, took a long time to charge, and were fairly expensive and/or had a very limited run (or you had to be entered into a lottery to buy one). Some, like the GM EV-1 were forcefully recalled and destroyed after their makers got bored of them and declared them a failure. Finally, I like this quote from the Wikipedia article on the history of electric cars: