So as I mentioned Tesla makes money by sucking money out of the other car companies. They do this by virtue of ZEV credits which some states mandate, these are Zero Emission Vehicle credits. If GM wants to sell a IC car in California they must produce a ZEV or buy a certain amount of ZEV credits to offset each vehicle. All of the big 3 end up buying credits from Tesla. Tesla is the primary seller of ZEV credits in the U.S.. Essentially that lowers the price of the EV and increases the cost of an IC car ,it is a direct subsidy to Tesla vis-a-vis gov't regulations. In Tesla's financials these ZEV credits are called Regulatory Credits.
Today Tesla's earnings came out and guess where they made all their money. Yr over yr their automotive revenue actually declined but those subsidies ZEV tripled. Without that revenue Tesla wouldn't have a profit to show.
"Automotive revenue declined by 4% year-over-year for Tesla from $5.38 billion to $5.18 billion, despite the company adding a new crossover SUV to its lineup, the Model Y, and opening a new plant in Shanghai in the past year.
In the year-ago quarter, Tesla reported $111.2 million in revenue from regulatory credits. That number nearly tripled to $428 million in regulatory credits in the second quarter of 2020."