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Actually, Tesla and SpaceX are outliers. They are not so much natural offspring of our time as are the outcome of an ambitious person with resources. They start
by restalis 11y ago
Actually, Tesla and SpaceX are outliers. They are not so much natural offspring of our time as are the outcome of an ambitious person with resources. They started in a desert. There weren't really neither a serious market for them¹ nor a sturdy supply structure that could have gained maturity with the market support. Besides the difficulty of getting into the high-barrier entry and heavy-regulated automotive industry, the existing electric cars related businesses were under constant attack by petroleum cartel. It was only natural to have difficulties in finding healthy suppliers for his Tesla. SpaceX? Well, the existing suppliers for space-ware were not the result of a free market, because there didn't really existed (or still exists) one (for that matter). What existed was either imported from overseas or come from only a narrow circle of small design labs that use to custom-build pieces required by someone for which the cost didn't seem to be an issue - NASA. This obviously doesn't count for something SpaceX could rather rely on.
¹ Here I expect at least some people to bring up something like Henry Ford and his horse & carriage replacement offering as a counter-example in favor to Elon Musk's enterprise. The car vs. existing livestock-based transport and the electric car vs. existing fossil fuel car are not really comparable.