The old ICE car manufacturers had weak electric car announcements over the years, but watching Bjorn Nyland's reviews of their new electric cars coming out now has revealed that their engineers & the rest that support those products are actually trying to do a great job. That's how I know they're finally serious. That applies to: Mercedes, Audi-VW-Porsche, Kia-Hyundai, and Jaguar, so far, and could soon apply to other old ICE car manufacturers as well.
I haven't heard of anything good from BMW, Honda, Toyota, Subaru, Ford, or GM, and Nissan has pretended to flounder. The field was wide open a few years ago, though, so they may actually have something in the works. Volvo is coming out with something new, still as yet unknown if good. GM got some experience already with the Bolt, and got really close to good with it, so may come out with something good soon, if they've been actually working on it (have they?).
I partially disagree with Jack Rickard: just because Tesla is ahead in battery & range tech doesn't mean that they will win in every category. For instance, Tesla doesn't have a pickup and doesn't have a comfortable EV for big wide-boned people with bad backs. The other manufacturers had a chance a few years ago to start real programs that can catch up in most categories, and while they might not win in all the small-car-long-range-mid-price departments in the early 2020s (Model 3 & Y), they had a chance to pretty much catch up in everything else that matters, and some of them are starting to do it for real.
We have yet to see cheap electric vehicles, so that may be where Tesla still gets a leg in if they can get their Model 1 out, or Model 3's out in enough volume that they start getting REALLY cheap (say, $10,000 used), but I don't see that happening for a long time; that could allow Tesla to sweep the table, but I'm hopeful we won't have to deal with that dystopian future. We need good competition, as recent events have shown.
Also, towing vehicles like pickups need big batteries. That right there will be a challenge for everyone until it isn't. Right now, Tesla could pickup the pickup market, but if they don't, then it's wide open for Ford, GM, and the rest of them that give a damn, if they can. For instance, GM & Ford could easily sweep the high-end pickup market by just putting in ~250kWh batteries with some good permanent magnet motors on each wheel or axle and the right electronics, if they started such a program 3 years ago or more, maybe only two years ago like the rest of them did (that did) with the sedans.
And anyway, even the ICE manufacturers who start today, might still get a sliver of market share in the end if they execute well. They'd be on an uphill battle, though: cashing in billions of dollars to make millions of dollars, just to stay alive. A fraction of their former selves. If they're lucky.
Remember: Toyota didn't even have a pickup until two decades ago (except their golf-cart-sized one). Hyundai didn't even exist (at least in USA). Kia is brand new (in USA). Just because some companies may shrink a bunch doesn't mean they won't grow again. At some point, the components will be commodities, and batteries will be like gas. Just not yet.
P.S., "public opinion" doesn't matter. Day 1 that the old ICE manufacturers come out with a real pickup, they'll say it's real, and real people will just know EVs are fine. Better, in fact. That is, unless the old ICE manufacturers lie, by putting out a piece of crap golf cart that requires a Facebook and Myspace/Tower Records account and say it's real like #fakenews.
