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The Hill had an interesting opinion piece on what it will take to get Elon Musk's hands out of taxpayer wallets:
A study published two years ago by The Los Angeles Times revealed that just three of Musk's ventures – SolarCity Corp. (which manufactured and installed solar energy systems before its 2016 merger with Tesla Motors Inc.), Tesla Motors Inc. (which manufactures electric vehicles), and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX (which builds rocket ships) – had received $4.9 billion in government subsidies to that point in time. By now, Musk's various ventures have sucked well over $5 billion from government coffers.
[...] By definition, [crony capitalism] distorts the marketplace, and warps investment decisions better made by private stewards of finance unencumbered by political considerations, whose only fiduciary responsibility is to those whose funds they manage. By adding the political calculus to the decision-making matrix, it alters outcomes, and prevents the most economically efficient deployment of limited financial resources.
[...] Here's the question I hear when I'm talking to friends in Georgia who ask me to explain Washington to them: "Why should those guys in Washington take my hard-earned tax dollars and use them to lower the price of an electric car for some movie star in Hollywood?"
[...] So that's why I'm hoping Tesla's Model 3 is a yuuuuuuuuge hit. I hope Elon Musk sells enough of those cars that he can make a profit on his own, without needing to dip any further into our pocketbooks and wallets.
Previously: Elon Musk Claims to Have "Verbal Approval" to Build New York to Washington, D.C. Hyperloop
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 09 2017, @08:26AM (1 child)
You're argument is imbalanced to say the least. Electrics save a substantial amount per year in maintenance. Moving parts are the number one reason things break down. Think about your computer - first thing to go is the hard disk, or was before the advent of SSDs. An internal combustion vehicle has thousands of moving parts. An electric vehicle has some low tens of moving parts. The expensive problems everybody comes up against every once in a while with conventional cars, like transmission - simply do not exist in electrics which have no gears. There's no need for oil, gas, or anything like that. Regenerative braking means fewer brake problems and longer lasting pads. The big downside of electrics is the expensive batteries. Fortunately those tend to come with some fat warranties. Tesla has an 8 year unlimited mile warranty on theirs for instance.
That $10,000 will be made up well before the life of the vehicle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 09 2017, @02:38PM
Well, we're off to a good start. You misspelled the very first word of this wall of text.