I mean, would Tesla even exist if it wasn't totally subsidized by the USG?
No offense to the electric-bois who love their cars, I'm just unsure if Tesla would even stand on its own as a company without serious government funding.
Well Tesla received an initial loan to startup, which was paid back in full.
Also you are right the rebates are over for Tesla, as they are capped on sales totals, they have hit it. Everyone else still gets them however because they have low sales.
That program was kind of bullshit because it gives everyone equal access to the rebate, regardless of innovation. So a company like GM can make a shit electric car and sell to a handful of suckers a month, and get rewarded by the government for providing no value or permanence to this electric car technology. So will eventually go on to milk our taxes for the maximum rebate slowly over time despite contributing nothing to the industry. Tesla is being penalized for being too awesome and selling too much.
If it had to exist at all, it should have been capped as a total for all companies, and whoever was the best and most innovative would get most of the rebates.
Would Ford or GM exist today without their massive bailout? They’ve received far more than Tesla ever has or ever could, and Tesla paid it all back, early, with interest.
The program was designed to promote innovation and it did. Government has done this plenty of times with success. It often happens with war and space technologies, which make their way to consumer industries as whatever is designed or developed goes private.
This particular government investment just skipped the war or space race usage and went direct to consumers. I don’t see a problem with that.
I mean, would Tesla even exist if it wasn't totally subsidized by the USG?
No offense to the electric-bois who love their cars, I'm just unsure if Tesla would even stand on its own as a company without serious government funding.
Well Tesla received an initial loan to startup, which was paid back in full.
Also you are right the rebates are over for Tesla, as they are capped on sales totals, they have hit it. Everyone else still gets them however because they have low sales.
That program was kind of bullshit because it gives everyone equal access to the rebate, regardless of innovation. So a company like GM can make a shit electric car and sell to a handful of suckers a month, and get rewarded by the government for providing no value or permanence to this electric car technology. So will eventually go on to milk our taxes for the maximum rebate slowly over time despite contributing nothing to the industry. Tesla is being penalized for being too awesome and selling too much.
If it had to exist at all, it should have been capped as a total for all companies, and whoever was the best and most innovative would get most of the rebates.
Would Ford or GM exist today without their massive bailout? They’ve received far more than Tesla ever has or ever could, and Tesla paid it all back, early, with interest.
The program was designed to promote innovation and it did. Government has done this plenty of times with success. It often happens with war and space technologies, which make their way to consumer industries as whatever is designed or developed goes private.
This particular government investment just skipped the war or space race usage and went direct to consumers. I don’t see a problem with that.