Tesla's EV win could be a blueprint for the post-data center backlash

Yahoo Finance · Hamza Shaban · 2026-11-06 11:00 UTC

Even with new political headwinds against data centers, firms with the infrastructure already in place can benefit from what they already have.

When President Trump and his allies in Congress moved to end the EV subsidy, automakers braced for a crash in electric car sales. Tesla (TSLA), the US leader, was especially vulnerable, because it didn't have gas-powered vehicles to lean on, and keeping prices as low as possible was crucial to competing with EV rivals.

But those initial worries gave way to optimism.

In a new regulatory environment, one that was more hostile to EVs, Tesla used the disappearing $7,500 tax break as an advantage. It lost a valuable subsidy, but used its scale to win a war of attrition, thereby consolidating the market. Other firms needed the subsidy even more, and though Tesla got hurt, the damage was less than its peers' in many ways.

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