Still not sure what the patents contained or exactly why he did it...but it sure sounds cool.
However, though I think Tesla's are beautiful, fantastic cars...they are purely a luxury car.
The S starts at almost $80 grand...that is useless for the masses. They stated for years before production that the S would come in around 40-50K...and now they came in at roughly double. I have little doubt if the major manufacturers wanted to built a car as good as the Tesla, they could.
But they don't want to, IMO because they HATE electric cars.
EV's (electric vehicles) have far fewer moving parts and require FAR less maintenance. And after market parts and planned obsolescence are large aspects of these corporations profits. And dealers make (apparently) about half of their profits from parts/service...so they hate electric cars even more.
That is why GM would not let anyone keep their EV-1's when the leases ran out way back when and why they crushed them all after they took them back...they hate electric vehicles and they don't want them taking off.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_EV1
That is why the EV's they do sell are over priced and have incredibly short ranges. The base Tesla can do over 230 miles. Yet the best EV's only do about 60-80 miles...which are near-useless for anything but daily commuting. They are designed to appeal to a small segment, but it makes them look like they are embracing EV's...when they are not. They could increase the range of these cars if they want to (just add more batteries under the floor like Tesla does)...they clearly don't want to.
On the other hand these corporations LOVE hybrids. They have all the moving parts of a regular car plus the electric motor/batteries of an EV, so they require even more service then regular cars. They raise fuel economy which helps their CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) compliance. They make at least as much per vehicle since they can charge a premium for them. And it makes them look 'greener'. And because of the added service/parts requirements, dealers like them as well.
As long as Tesla makes luxury cars in small numbers that few can afford, I assume the big 'boys' won't care much.
Personally, I love electric cars...but until they come down to $25K (before government incentives) and can go 200 miles at least, they are, IMO, strictly for luxury buyers and/or green 'fanatics'.