I'll give him credit for convincing the government to give his businesses billions and essentially subsidize them. I don't think that makes you an innovative genius, just another in a long line of confidence men who leached off our government (see the entire financial sector in 2008).
EV adoption is up, but it still holds a minuscule share of the market. And that market share is almost entirely reliant on government incentives for buyers. It's why the states that give you the most money back (like California) are the one's selling the most.
Don't get me wrong, I want to drop our reliance on oil (although with EV it just makes us dependent on China). And Tesla is one of the first electric cars that doesn't look like it should be driven around by a white college kid with dreadlocks. But it's not some new technology that he's created. It's not changing much in the world or even the market.
I think the "bullshitter" part is what makes people believe he's something he's not. He spouts outrageous things he plans on doing that don't or won't come to fruition.
Back in 2016 he said you'd be able to self-drive his car cross country by the end of 2017. They aren't even close. Heck, BMW and Audi long surpassed them in this field. Hyperloop is complete nonsense.
He was going to fly humans around the moon this year. Dropping battery costs by 30%, having machines build the machines by now. That doesn't even touch on all the bullshit about the car. How many he'd make, how many he'd sell, and what their capabilities are.
Talk is cheap. He's still just a guy running a company that is entirely dependent on our tax dollars to survive while spouting ideas that will never happen.