Ford, of course, is associated with the democratization of the automobile—the Model T was the first mass-owned car. But Ford started off as a luxury-car maker, making high-tech, impractical, very expensive vehicles for the very rich.
That’s how it often goes when new technologies hit the market—they’re produced in small batches at a high cost. But as the companies increase production, as unit volumes rise, and as competitors enter the field and innovate further, the cost of the products falls, and falls, and falls again—to the point where the middle class can afford them. That’s what happened with the telephone, the car, the television, the personal computer, the mobile phone. A century after the Model T took the nation by storm, could the same process be happening with electric cars?
Well, maybe.
