Tesla does not have and never had any battery tech. They use off-the-shelf Panasonic batteries that are exactly the same ones you put in flashlights[1].

Tesla made one major innovation. They realized that people will buy an electric car for $100,000. That's really it! They have an attractive and very good car, but it is market innovation that is Tesla's essential advantage.

1: http://www.amazon.com/NCR18650B-3400mAh-Rechargeable-Battery...

Note that the Bolt's $30,000 price is after the Federal tax credit, while the Model 3's $35,000 price is before the tax credit. The Bolt's real price is more like $37,500. Still close enough, and there's the additional complication that Tesla will run past the end of the tax credits well before GM does at this rate, but not quite as cheap as it might sound from the PR.

Look at externalities when you consider selling price: Tesla sells pollution credits to outside companies, which they can use to finance their operations to some degree. For legacy OEMs like GM, CAFE standards mean that selling 1 Bolt EV lets them sell several Cadillac Escalades which have a very nice profit margin.

Disclaimer: I work for GM, but not on this product, and any opinions are my own.

The first Model 3 is slated to ship late 2017. And Bolt early 2017. That's a solid 9+ month advantage for the Bolt.

If you believe the intended positioning, the Bolt and the Model 3 are cars with EV power plants, but intended for different segments. The Model 3 is intended to be positioned as a premium vehicle (BMW 3 series, etc), while the Bolt seems to be similarly positioned to the Prius. So, its not a winner-take-all proposition.

It is totally up to the agend of the other companies. Theoretically, they should be able to since tesla has open sourced all its patents but I don't think many companies want to do that. EC cars are still a niche that only very few people drive. And it still requires tons of R&D which might not be worth it for the other companies.

What is really going to be interesting is how well other car companies can build EC cars. I personally like the look of the tesla model 3 way better and at a similar price point, it is a no brainier to get a tesla for me (if I had the money). Also, I'm really interested in autonomous driving and tesla seems to be far ahead (I know lots of companies are catching up but autonomous driving is still in the higher end models.

I don't know if GM used any of Tesla'a tech, but Elon Musk did open up all their patents. Anyone can jump onto the electric train.

I think you're right in saying that anyone could do it, but in my opinion, it depends on the economics of the battery packs. If we truly are seeing the costs come down, as Tesla hoped and GM seem to be showing, then it'll be exciting to see if any other players appear. GM reportedly scored an insane price of $145/kWh for their battery pack production http://insideevs.com/lg-chem-ticked-gm-disclosing-145kwh-bat...