Tesla Model S, Three Years Later: What Electric Car Taught Us

Three years ago today, the very first production Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan was delivered to its buyer.

That would be Silicon Valley venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, who's also a Tesla board member.

The delivery took place, on a weekend, as soon as the Model S had been fully certified for sale by all relevant U.S. government agencies.

DON'T MISS: First 2012 Tesla Model S Delivered To Earliest Depositor Steve Jurvetson: Video (Jun 2012)

The event was captured on a video that Jurvetson himself posted to YouTube just a couple of days later.

Revisiting the video after three years is a good spur to considering exactly what three years of Model S production--likely totaling 80,000 or more cars--has wrought.

We'd suggest that Tesla has done (at least) three crucial things.

(1) Tesla has built an enormously powerful brand, and spawned a rock-star CEO

Tesla Motors may or may not survive as an independent company. Its odds are probably better than they were three years ago, but automaking remains a tricky and brutally capital-intensive business.

Many analysts expect that Tesla will have to raise further capital within the next year or two to fund development and production of its Model 3 car in 2017 (or perhaps rather later).

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But if Tesla is sold, its main value will be not only its products, factory, and technology, but the value of its brand as perhaps the most forward-thinking and technologically advanced carmaker of size.

That galls the GMs, Toyotas, and Volkswagen Groups of the world to no end--not to mention German luxury makers Daimler and BMW.

But the combined efforts of hard-working engineers who never get any press and CEO Elon Musk, who does, have ensured that the company has wildly passionate owners--and that both Tesla and Musk himself have a much larger set of followers rooting for their success.

There are, of course, detractors.

Many of them show up in the comments on financial sites dedicated to analyzing the sometimes interesting financial results and accounting methods of Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA].

Regardless of the financials, though, Tesla builds appealing cars, treats their owners well, and has captured the public imagination.

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That has put Elon Musk in the position Thomas Edison occupied a century ago: public icon, technological innovator, and envsioner of new futures.

We hope the thousands of hardworking men and women who labor behind the scenes to make that happen share in some of the glory.

(2) Tesla proved (once again) that cars must offer something better than their competitors, regardless of powertrain

"It's always all about the product' is a truism in the auto business, but it's something than electric-car advocates and early adopters frequently forget--or ignore.

Those who are enamored of electric cars--for a variety of reasons--are willing to make sacrifices to drive them.

Regular buyers aren't.

But with ranges of 208 and 265 miles--three years later, 240 and 270 miles--the Tesla Model S can provide several days of driving without requiring a recharge to move.

It holds four people comfortably, five people acceptably, and a fair quantity of cargo as well.

CHECK OUT: 2015 Tesla Model S 70D: First Drive Of New Electric Car Base Model

And it is not only good-looking and (somewhat) luxurious, but the low-end models perform well and the high-end models blow the doors off some much pricier conveyances.

That's a combination of attributes that no other electric car comes close to offering today, fully seven years after the first Tesla Roadster struggled into production.