I think a lot of the criticism is political. When you separate from that, Elon has had a profound impact on space and automotive. He isn't perfect and has certainly made many mistakes, but there isn't really anyone like him pushing technology forward like this.
It's pretty funny, there was so much pent up demand for EVs that the one guy that actually did it not as a political stunt became a billionaire.
It's not like they didn't have a chance to either, they all developed EVs as side projects [1]. Some of which were incredibly loved by their leasers (?) [2].
