I don't know why this gets trotted out as a knock on them. The whole point of emissions credits existing is to even out the failure of the market to assign cost

I don't know why this gets trotted out as a knock on them. The whole point of emissions credits existing is to even out the failure of the market to assign cost to polluters. If Tesla is doing better relative to other manufacturers after adjusting for externalities, then it's doing better. The others were only winning by abusing an unenforced "rule" of the market that has now been closed.