Elon is full of himself and a shitshow when it comes to running operations at any company. But he did create Paypal and SpaceX. And made Tesla what it is today. I had the good fortune to be able to do a deep dive into Tesla in 2007 as an MBA project back when no-one outside of the valley knew anything about it. Got to spend time in San Carlos in their little original office space/manufacturing building and spend several hours talking to several of the CXX level folks. All of whom Elon fired a short time later, in yet another jerk move. But I have little doubt that if Elon had no involvement with Tesla it would either be one of dozens of failed electric car startups, or if they were really good a very niche company that made a few thousand cars a year at most right now. In fact I dusted off my paper recently and that's exactly what I said contemporaneously, their best hope was being bought by another car manufacturer which was their exit plan at the time. You don't have to like Elon or his methods, I certainly don't. But trying to say he hasn't accomplished much is just absurd, even when it comes to Tesla.
I never said he wasn't pivotal, but I do have a real problem w/his shtick of trying to rewrite history to claim the glory. Tesla would've likely been defunct by now if it hadn't been for the guy's cash infusion & uncanny ability to do nothing wrong in the public's eyes and monetizing/landing contracts on that ability.
I have no real beef w/his SpaceX or Paypal involvement as am unfamiliar and seems to be mostly on the "up and up" from an ethical standpoint.
I followed Tesla back from their lotus/AC propulsion days so am most familiar with that operation. Here's another beauty few remember:
https://www.wired.com/2012/02/tesla-vs-top-gear/