Was battery technology actually slowed? When Tesla began mass-producing EVs, they were using off-the-shelf vendor batteries. It seems like if anything the battery tech was ahead of the EV wave, having been driven by thin and light ultraportable computers.
The two guys who created Tesla were the same guys who created the e-reader, which would become the kindle.
They took their knowledge from the kindle batteries and put it into a car.
P.S. Tesla has always used off the shelf vendor batteries. Panasonic has their separate section within the Tesla factories where they are mass producing regular looking batteries that are then assembled in series.
