It's not sustainable ATM, no, but it's using a similar strategy as all the hip startups on HN use - get users first, money comes later. In Tesla's case, their initial investment is just several orders of magnitude larger than hip startup X.
And it will pay off. They're building hard to become the world's largest battery producer. And once their affordable model comes out, they will quickly grab a nontrivial share of the nearly one trillion car market.
So on the one side you're paying for the rich person's tax break. On the other you're paying for a greener future, independent of fuels - and you'll be driving an electric car yourself in 5-10 years, and hopefully think back with a smirk about how you made do with the old cars, like you probably do now with brick phones or a world without internet.
I have somewhat mixed feelings on the subsidies. On the one hand, I'm all for encouraging innovation in renewable power, energy conservation techniques, and electric vehicles. On the other hand, it's true that most of the "green" tax credits available to consumers--whether for electric cars, solar panels, or energy-efficient windows--do go to relatively high-income individuals. And it's not unreasonable to be discomfited by that fact.
That said, as others have mentioned, there are lots of subsidies for lots of things and the premise of these ones seems laudable for the most part however they're delivered.
Its been 12 years and lithium-ion prices are fairly stable, there's nothing that can lower them to ICE competitive levels. If this was any other company you guys would be screaming the usual libertarian take of "OMG MY TAXES" instead of this mindless fanboy worship Elon seems to evoke.
I am impressed by Tesla, but by their marketing. They make smart people sound very, very stupid by advocating for a $100,000 car as the Model T of our time.
And it will pay off. They're building hard to become the world's largest battery producer. And once their affordable model comes out, they will quickly grab a nontrivial share of the nearly one trillion car market.
So on the one side you're paying for the rich person's tax break. On the other you're paying for a greener future, independent of fuels - and you'll be driving an electric car yourself in 5-10 years, and hopefully think back with a smirk about how you made do with the old cars, like you probably do now with brick phones or a world without internet.