How Tesla Drives the Electric Vehicle Industry Through Disruptive Innovation: Success Factors and Practical Insights from a Case Study

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-598-5_16How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Disruptive Innovation; Tesla; Electric Vehicle Industry; Business Model; Case Study

Abstract

This study examines how Tesla leverages disruptive innovation to drive transformation in the global electric vehicle industry. Based on Christensen’s theory of disruptive innovation and subsequent research, this study employs a qualitative case-study methodology. Utilizing secondary sources, including Tesla corporate reports, news coverage, industry analyses, and financial disclosures, it analyzes Tesla’s vehicle development, battery and software innovations, direct sales model, charging network, and strategic deployments through thematic coding and process tracing. The findings indicate that Tesla’s success stems from the convergence of technological breakthroughs, business model innovation, and leadership. The study unfolds across three dimensions: market entry and R&D pathways, impacts on consumer expectations and traditional automakers’ responses, and key elements of the business model. This further reveals that traditional automakers’ lagging investments in batteries, software, and infrastructure led to inadequate responses. This study bridges the gap between disruptive innovation theory and industry practice, providing practical insights for electric vehicle industry managers, policymakers, and entrepreneurs, while enriching empirical research in this field.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Yusha Wang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/26
TI  - How Tesla Drives the Electric Vehicle Industry Through Disruptive Innovation: Success Factors and Practical Insights from a Case Study
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 6th  International Conference on Big Data and Social Sciences (ICBDSS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 145
EP  - 158
SN  - 2352-538X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-598-5_16
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-598-5_16
ID  - Wang2026
ER  -