If all goes according to plan, Tesla will bring down the price of an electric car to the point that subsidies or tax breaks won’t be necessary.
While subsidies are an issue, they don’t deserve to be the main focus when it comes to SpaceX or Tesla.
Musk realized that you can’t make a $30k electric that performed well enough to actually sell.
I believe he mentioned about $60k as the price of the engineering.
Realizing this they decided to add creature comforts and maximize performance within their sector. The result is an electric that competes not with the Ford Fiesta, but rather Cadillac and BMW.
It was a market decision based on the minimum cost of the core engineering.
The stories behind the decision to make their own batteries are equally interesting. Someone told him the performance he required was unavailable. So he decided to make it himself.
SpaceX has the potential to revolutionize modern space entry. He almost went bankrupt fighting through early failures.
As a business - any business - making best use of available tax credits, grants, etc. is the fiscally responsible thing to do...
I don’t have to be a fan of the person or their politics to sit back and appreciate radical gambles of engineering and all in economic risk.
That attitude... I can do it better and am willing to risk all to prove it ... is quintessentially American.