Electric car competition heating up

It looks like the competition among the electric cars are getting very intense with new players emerging into the market. Once dominated by Tesla the electric car industry just got 2 new players, Faraday Future and NextEv. NextEv may not be ready with a car that a regular consumer will buy but they have showcased what they are capable of. Faraday Future took the big fight to Tesla recently with their new car that can self park and self drive and has amazing acceleration capable of 0-100km/h in under 3 seconds.
Faraday Future took the Tesla concept and enhanced. This doesn't mean that Tesla is not doing anything about it. The competition will make it better for the consumers as these companies will work harder to improve their cars. This is a good thing. China's BYD was one of the early birds but they didn't take their development as far as Tesla but seeing that Faraday Future is here the other up coming electric car companies will be pushing their car development that much harder to be competitive.
There is room for a entry level electric car like the Tesla Model 3 since not all consumers are able to fork out $80,000 for a Tesla P90D. The key to the lower price will be to remove some items in the car and keep the car simple but yet be able to provide sufficient driving range between charge.

For any electric car company to be an outright winner in the industry will depend on the battery development. If a electric car company can pioneer a battery that will offer a driving range exceeding 500km and ultra fast charging via any 110V or 220V socket will be the winner. Right now the charging still takes too long. If the charging time can be cut down to a time similar to refuel a gasoline car, that will be the key to success. It may not be necessary to fully charge the car but at least provide 75% to 80% charge in 10 minutes. It may sound like a lot to ask presently but motorist do not want to spend too much time waiting for their cars to be charged.

Imagine driving from LA to Las Vegas which is about 400km and if the charging stop takes more than 1 hour to get 50% charge, the driver will end up taking an hour longer to arrive at the destination. Short driving range has always been a problem since car owners will always want the flexibility of driving wherever they wish and however far they wish.

The Japanese car companies seem lost with the electric car concept. The Nissan Leaf's range is a joke at less than 280km per charge and Toyota is still sticking to their hybrid concept. The development of the full electric car is now centred around US, Germany and China. IF the Japanese do not innovate quickly they may eventually lose out when the wave of change picks up pace. It is just like how Japan completely lost the plot with the smartphone and mobility wave. Being such an advanced country Japan's e-commerce and internet penetration is seriously lagging behind.