There was, and to a large degree Tesla had to do a lot by themselves since the US government picks winners and saves losers rather. The Chinese government prioritized EV and battery productions through onshoring, industrial policy, and blanket incentives (bypassing license plate lottery for EVs), rather than favoring a specific company.
Why does the US have 1 successful EV company while China has a dozen? Because on government cares about it and the other doesn’t. And now that they’re losing a race they couldn’t be bother to compete it they complain.
Same complaining about AI, now that the two chosen champions are facing actual competition, there’s complaints that it’s unfair. we were supposed to win, it’s unfair that they’re beating us at our own crooked game.
How did they pick winners and losers early days of Tesla? It demand side subsidy. No one else could meet it. It worked.
Tesla had to build the charging infrastructure (and other fragmented companies followed), they had to educate customers, they had to fight dealership requirements, they had to build up and secure the supply chain, etc. etc. The government then comes in and gives them subsidies after they’ve made it though all those filters.
The Chinese government prioritized critical minerals and made sure there was domestic mining and processing. Then they mandated that regional electricity companies install EV chargers. Then they provided consumer incentives to buy an EV (bypass license plate lotteries). Then they didn’t play favorites; so much so that when the domestic manufacturers were crap they allowed Tesla to come in and set up production. That raised the bar on suppliers and spurred actual competition from the local brands.
They build the conditions for actual competition to occur and then are letting the companies win or fail on their own merits, someone will be bictorious and they’ll be lean and mean. A true capitalist free market compared to the sweet protectionist deals the Big Three get.
Would BYD be allowed to build a car in the USA? Even a joint venture? Of course not, Washington is mulling not allowing Chinese cars to even be driven across the boarder for those silly Mexicans and Canadians who want to buy one.