Land Of The Giants, Episode 3: Tesla VS. The Competition

For years, Tesla was synonymous with everything cool, high-tech, and futuristic. But is it still today?

“Teslas used to look cool and now they don’t,” said Jessica Resler, a Brooklyn resident recently shopping for an EV who eventually settled on a BMW i4. “And they’ve become the Uber car of the city.”

In case it wasn’t clear, no one wants to be known as “the Uber car of the city.” Previous designees include various Toyotas — Prius, RAV4, etc. — a brand that’s more synonymous with terms like “functional” and “within my budget” than “cool.”

In episode 3 of Land of the Giants: The Tesla Shock Wave, we take a hard look at the legacy auto industry’s recent efforts to catch up with Tesla in the EV race. For years, Tesla was the only EV game in town, notwithstanding compliance cars or EVs with dorky designs, like the Nissan Leaf. Now, every automaker under the sun has a fully fleshed-out EV strategy, and new models are being released every day.