This isn't surprising, and it's not exactly the worst outcome, either.
We already knew Tesla's solar business was WAY down, even though they (well, Solar City) got incentives for the Buffalo plant. But, since Panasonic can export these cells, the plant is still fairly busy as promised, giving much of the employment benefit that the incentives were promising in spite of the Tesla solar slowdown.
That's not a suboptimal result, given the circumstances, IMHO.
{And on the other side, Tesla is also not forbidden from using other lithium or solar cells besides the Panasonic ones if it's more convenient for whatever reason (for instance, Tesla often uses non-Panasonic cells in storage applications), so neither party is locked in to a situation that would be detrimental just because the other party can't immediately deliver. That's also good.}
I don't understand those who think this is some scandal or funny. The incentives seem to be working (stimulating domestic manufacturing) as designed, even showing to be robust in the face of Tesla's solar downturn (temporary, we hope). What's the issue? Are we just all super jaded now?
We already knew Tesla's solar business was WAY down, even though they (well, Solar City) got incentives for the Buffalo plant. But, since Panasonic can export these cells, the plant is still fairly busy as promised, giving much of the employment benefit that the incentives were promising in spite of the Tesla solar slowdown.
That's not a suboptimal result, given the circumstances, IMHO.
{And on the other side, Tesla is also not forbidden from using other lithium or solar cells besides the Panasonic ones if it's more convenient for whatever reason (for instance, Tesla often uses non-Panasonic cells in storage applications), so neither party is locked in to a situation that would be detrimental just because the other party can't immediately deliver. That's also good.}
I don't understand those who think this is some scandal or funny. The incentives seem to be working (stimulating domestic manufacturing) as designed, even showing to be robust in the face of Tesla's solar downturn (temporary, we hope). What's the issue? Are we just all super jaded now?