> Is the brand name of being effectively the gas station of EVs worth it to them?
Yes, because it's becoming more and more clear that Tesla's future potential is way more in their role as an energy company than as a carmaker.
- Global charging network for cars + trucks => Tesla as an energy distributor
- Residential + utility scale solar + utility scale battery storage => Tesla as a maker of energy production infrastructure
- Tesla smart grid software => Tesla as a global electric utility
In other words, they're working towards becoming the clean energy combination of ExxonMobil + General Electric + Your local power company.
The cars are an important business that happen to also incubate and drive forward all the other technologies I mentioned.
Yes, because it's becoming more and more clear that Tesla's future potential is way more in their role as an energy company than as a carmaker.
- Global charging network for cars + trucks => Tesla as an energy distributor - Residential + utility scale solar + utility scale battery storage => Tesla as a maker of energy production infrastructure - Tesla smart grid software => Tesla as a global electric utility
In other words, they're working towards becoming the clean energy combination of ExxonMobil + General Electric + Your local power company.
The cars are an important business that happen to also incubate and drive forward all the other technologies I mentioned.