I think they'll have a worse fate than NeXT. When the time comes for electric cars to go mainstream, the big car companies will just muscle in on Tesla's territ

I think they'll have a worse fate than NeXT. When the time comes for electric cars to go mainstream, the big car companies will just muscle in on Tesla's territory -- there's no need to buy them since (as far as I know) they don't own any of the key parts of the technology. Tesla might survive as a niche manufacturer in the long run, but their small head-start in the electric car game isn't enough to make up for (say) Toyota's huge existing infrastructure.