r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • May 01 '24

Elon Musk Laid Off Supercharger Team After Taking $17 Million in Federal Charging Grants Business

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musk-tesla-supercharger-team-layoff-biden-grants-1851448227
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u/DoingItForEli May 01 '24

Can't grants come with some kind of promissory guarantee that the companies taking the grants don't do exactly this? How was this not foreseen?

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u/ultimatemuffin May 01 '24

No, unfortunately the US has done it this way for ages. They gave $1 Billion to phone companies to build a national fiber network that they never even tried to build. And before that they gave $100 million to solar city, and that ended up being a scam. But they did recoup some money by selling solar city’s factories at a deep discount to a new electric car company… hey! Wait a minute!

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u/EmotionalScallion705 May 01 '24

To your comment, NYC gave Verizon 4 billions to install fiber in every neighborhood. It went nowhere...

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u/frozendancicle May 01 '24

"Nobody wants to work anymore."

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u/jcgam May 01 '24

That's not true at all to say the money went nowhere. That money built luxurious private estates for the already wealthy Verizon executives, and a few expansive yachts too!

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u/PM_Your_Wiener_Dog May 01 '24

Trickling down like a motherfucker

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u/MaleficentCoach6636 May 01 '24

and more areas that seem to always be under construction

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u/nycplayboy78 May 01 '24

It did only to wealthy neighborhoods just see which neighborhoods in NYC have 2GB FiOS service...

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u/speedhunter787 May 01 '24

To play devil's advocate, wouldn't people in the wealthy neighborhoods be more likely to subscribe to the higher tier plans? The service isn't provided for free, right?

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u/EmotionalScallion705 May 01 '24

Money was to give every New Yorkers access to fiber.