Was it wasteful?

Yes? The company should have crashed, it would've been better for the market to reimburse early buyers and let small start-ups develop a better-quality product and have Tesla (or Amazon, or google, idc) buy the new startups. Dyaqua could've really use the money and a Tesla-Imerys conglomerate could already have given us affordable rooftops with Tesla's scale economy and powerwall and Imerys knowledge.

Sorry, I meant is it wasteful like taking a rocket for a 10-minute joyride? Or are you saying Solar City is worse than that?

I'm also interested in seeing orwin's argument expanded. I'm a tad skeptical of crowding-out arguments, which often rest on a faith in the wisdom of markets that goes beyond that which can be justified.