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The Tesla S may be a flash in the pan, or it may be the signpost showing industry the way forward. But there can be no doubt that it is a brilliant accomplishment and a tremendous piece of automotive engineering and art. I for one have no problems with a couple of my tax dollars going into its creation; in fact I feel a good bit of pride in it, and in the fact that Tesla is a US company. We need more like it.
The problem will be that, should we actually ever stop whining and get back to work in this country, we'll have to very quickly remember the ratio between startup successes and failures. I used to work in R&D and I now work in a highly competitive segment of the communications industry. I can tell you from experience that there are a lot more failures than successes.
In my opinion the federal government should subsidize industries that aren't quite there yet, or that hold great promise but do not attract sufficient private investment to get them moving. If the feds didn't back some losers I'd be astonished. If/when electric cars become ubiquitous, and they all come from, say, Brazil, how many people do you think would be moaning about "the US falling behind once more"?
I'd be okay with the Tesla S being so successful that it spawns a host of would-be imitators. I'd be fine with one of them building a more affordable 200 mile all-electric car. I would not mind seeing my tax dollars go to Wawa (a local convenience store chain) to give them incentive to put in charging stations. In 10 years I could be driving gasoline powered cars just in parades on holidays. That would be fine with me.
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