Not long at all, I think. The US (and European) car and truck industries have been doing too much navel gazing, and far too little forward thinking and investment. While they have been selling things like gas guzzling light trucks and marketing them as a desirable replacement for regular cars, only made economical by low fuel tax and fracking, the Chinese have heavily invested in the next big thing. While the US companies focused on the short term profit, they are going to lose really heavily when the rest of the global economy has moved over to electric, and they have nothing to offer. Meanwhile, China will have several generations of experience in electric vehicle production of all types by that point.
Maybe not too late, if they pull out all the stops and seriously invest in both production and infrastructure to match, but it will take a lot to beat China at its own game at this point. Needs investment at national scale not only in the US, but the UK and the rest as well.
Regarding Tesla. They have been a pioneer in some respects, but I have doubts that they will be the ones to bring electric to the masses. That will I think be done by the established companies (local and Chinese) after they switch over to mass production. Tesla won't be able to compete on volume or price in my opinion.
Maybe not too late, if they pull out all the stops and seriously invest in both production and infrastructure to match, but it will take a lot to beat China at its own game at this point. Needs investment at national scale not only in the US, but the UK and the rest as well.
Regarding Tesla. They have been a pioneer in some respects, but I have doubts that they will be the ones to bring electric to the masses. That will I think be done by the established companies (local and Chinese) after they switch over to mass production. Tesla won't be able to compete on volume or price in my opinion.