Not Even Elon Musk Can Doom the EV Charger Network

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1. [[Gift link]](https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-05-02/not-even-elon-musk-and-tesla-can-doom-the-us-ev-charger-network?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTcxNDY3MDkxNSwiZXhwIjoxNzE1Mjc1NzE1LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJTQ1ZCTEREV1gyUFMwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiIxMkE1QzVFRUNERDg0NUJEQjVFOTM1MUE0Mzk4QTAxNCJ9.3QUN90U9lM-OFTFL9QcbYwF8MwPfrRu9jPO4HBrzl7E) from Mark Gongloff:

   Elon Musk may [not like](https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-list-government-subsidies-tesla-billions-spacex-solarcity-2021-12) to talk about this, but Tesla probably wouldn’t be one of the world’s biggest automakers today if not for a [$465 million](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/innovations/wp/2017/03/16/this-government-loan-program-helped-tesla-at-a-critical-time-trump-wants-to-cut-it/) US government loan at a make-or-break phase in the company’s development. Tesla went on to repay the loan [nine years early](https://www.tesla.com/blog/tesla-repays-department-energy-loan-nine-years-early) on the way to briefly having a market value of more than $1 trillion.

   The lesson here is that sometimes a new enterprise needs a helping hand from a bigger player but can eventually thrive on its own. Musk is about to play a role in another demonstration of that lesson, but this time as the bigger player: Tesla has been necessary for kick-starting electric-vehicle adoption in the US. But the company is not necessary for its future success.