It's still just a toy for the well to-do. It makes no financial sense to buy a Model 3 versus an equivalent Honda Civic/Accord. The fuel savings/maintenance savings won't be offset with current electric/fuel prices over the life of the car.
Yet, the Civic and Accord are two of the top four vehicle models currently being traded in for Teslas.
Also... Let's take a look. I'm going to configure an Accord and a Model 3 similarly and see what the result is:
Model 3 comes to $15,135 more than the Accord. Let's assume 8 years of ownership at 12,000 miles per year.
Fuel costs:
Accord gets about 34 mpg combined, and the national average gas price is $2.85 today. Fuel cost if prices remain unchanged: $8,047.
Model 3 uses 26 kWh/100 miles and the national average electric rate is $0.12/kWh. Fuel cost if prices remain unchanged: $2,995. Model 3 advantage: $5,052.
Maintenance:
Tesla: $1040
Accord (per RepairPal): $2560
So, with the $7500 tax credit, they come out about even. If you keep the car longer, the Tesla has a big advantage. But it's also a lot more fun to drive than an Accord, so people will want it anyway.
The main thing Tesla did that other car makers didn't (those with PHEVs/EVs) is make the vehicle performance-minded and attractive. No one wanted an Insight/Prius/etc. because they were made even uglier as EVs than the regular gas-burner models and were slow/uninspiring to boot.
Bingo.
I read somewhere that the federal subsidies that Tesla received ended/will end sometime this month. I believe they get them for the first 200,000 cars sold. Gotta wonder how this will affect them in the future.
Still in full effect on cars delivered through the end of the year, then partial credits through 2019. There's also bills that would either extend the credit strictly to a particular date or eliminate it entirely. I'm in favor of either - It doesn't make sense to now penalize the manufacturers that have invested in creating electrified vehicles and give credits to the purchasers of the laggards, especially since American companies (Tesla and GM) are the ones that would be most affected.
The private market will take care of that, once there's enough demand to warrant it. Gas stations can add charging stalls fairly easily if they have the real estate and grid capability. The economies of scale that GM/Ford/Honda/Toyota/Nissan/etc have on manufacturing mean that they can get a ton of vehicles out in short order when they decide to flip the switch. In the mean time, people can still charge at a Tesla charging station or at work/home if needed. So I wouldn't go as far as to say they'd have cars that "nobody wants", just cars that will utilize Tesla charging stations until the private market reacts.
Other cars can't utilize the Tesla Superchargers, as it is today. They use a different plug and require a software handshake to enable the charger.
I also don't think the private market will take care of this, absent some massive tax incentives. Current fast charging stations cost around $30,000 per plug, and that's for a 50kW one (Tesla does 120kW on the current Superchargers). Current ones like EvGO cost 20 cents per minute, and when they're running at full speed that's about 12 cents just in power costs, to say nothing of administrative and installation costs. It's not going to be the quick payday the private market likes, especially when it needs to be planned out as a network along major highways such that many of the plugs will be in rural areas.
Easier said than done. If is was so easy, then GM would be build 50K Bolt's right now.....
The supply chain is significantly more complicated; especially on the battery side. Current ICE powered cars to make 50K, you need 200K tires, 50K engine blocks, 50K transmissions, 50K fuel tanks... You go to a few hundred suppliers. For that EV car, you need 50K electric motors, and a few million battery cells with only a dozen suppliers in the world.
That's why Tesla's self-sourcing of the batteries is so important, and such a big advantage for them.