Revenge.
Henry Ford had a saying, “When everything seems to be
going against you, remember that the airplane takes off
against the wind, not with it.” After the credit crisis of 2008
hit the world economy, Elon realized how he could use
the recession to his advantage. “The economy is shit,” he
said. “Do you realize what that’s going to do to the value
of secondhand machines? They’ll be in the toilet. We can
get an EB welder on-site.”^49
It wasn’t the loan from the Department Of Energy that
saved the empire, those money arrived as late as 2010. What
really saved the empire was when Daimler invested in Tesla
and when Dell acquired Everdream. From Everdream, Elon
got $120 fresh millions. Two of his cousins had founded
Everdream, and he had earlier invested in the company and
was now a major shareholder. “That money arrived in early
2009 and replenished the coffers. Thank goodness, man,”
Elon said. “Those were dark days. I think I still have some
emotional scar tissue. Just thinking about that time stresses
me out.”51,54
Known as the Tesla Deathwatch, the blogThe Truth
About Cars[TTAC] had begun a countdown until Tesla
would die. “It seems like they may be waiting for a while,”
Elon told the bloggers when it looked like Tesla would
survive. “We’ve confounded the critics at every turn. At a
certain point, people have to get tired of being wrong.”331,34