This is self-deluded. Setting any autonomy aside, EVs are cars propelled by a different means. Yes there is a need for new tech and infrastructure, but it’s not commercial space travel to Venus. If there wasn’t any business model to follow, none of the legacy car companies would be able to build and sell EVs without standing up duplicate sales/service/parts/body shop/charging capabilities. BMW (as just one example) made and sold the i3/i8 without opening different dealers, service, parts, or building their own cross country charging infrastructure, and did that without deciding to try and build and operate their own car carriers. It’s disruption, not a blue ocean.
They did Mark: they sold books out of the Bezos’ garage until the infrastructure could sell other products. They started AWS to resell their own economies of scale. They had a business model that generated revenue and reinvested continually into their infrastructure until they had many many lines of businesses that generate revenue. All while being excellent at one thing until they could excel at the next, and killing the products/services that didn’t work (Fire Phone anyone?) after giving them a fair chance. They didn’t try to be too many things and only excel at mediocrity.
It’s the math.
53 employees spent $1.4 billion dollars to build 2,450 gorgeous cars and implode. $571,429 per car with almost no residual assets.
After GM spent $1B on the EV1 there was no reason to go that deep. Yes in the early days you make bets and some don’t pay off. Fisker was a bad bet from “go”.
Because there have been so many new car makers in the past 20 years to draw that trend-line? That didn’t take public funds? That were successful? You’re assuming facts not in evidence.
It’s not a matter of needing 10 years of runway (Scion had that), it’s about a viable business that understands its customer and market, does only enough to prove it’s viable, doesn’t over-expand too quickly or try to do everything at once by itself (horizontally integrate). The goal isn’t to be a loss leader with nothing to offset it.