1. 4680 will be available to the rest of the industry. Panasonic has already stated they intend to supply both Tesla and other vendors when they scale. Of course Tesla offers the use of their other patents to the industry.
Really Tesla will be successful as the market expands. In fact their lead on other aspects of EV production (10 hours to produce a car compared to 30…)
As the article noted there are many battery technologies in the works, including University research sponsored by Tesla that can increase price performance.
The article is a bit myopic. The industry will adapt to technology change. Tesla has a good track record in this and welcomes other vendors to step up their game. Even offered VW and GM free advice.
A rising tide…