They took a half billion in subsidies from California for battery swapping and never planned on actually implementing it broadly IMO. They just met the letter of the rules to qualify, then move HQ to Texas after subsidies run dry and they don't want as much taxation as normal CA small businesses who subsidized them.
They still have a gigantic factory in California, they built a battery factory there and have a huge battery research team in California, they have another research team in San Diago and they just announced building a Megapack production factory in California.
What is it with the endless whining about this decision, by Californians and you. California got exactly what wanted, its leading in EVs. It got a huge number of jobs, including reopening a big plant. Its leading in battery tech. Those companies help fund their universities.
Tesla is one of the few companies mass manufacturing in California at all. They got more then their monies worth.
Tesla even did really fast charging just not with swapping. So I really don't see why people are so upset about this. Swapping was clearly the wrong solution, and Tesla instead invested in a better solution. Thanks to that California has a huge amount of fast charging stations.
It seems to me what it is really about is just finding any reason to be angry at Tesla. If you actually think about it, with a fixed amount of capital, what should they have done, build battery swap station or deploy fast chargers?
Fast chargers aren't fast. Watch the swapping demo they did on stage: it was faster than fueling up with gas. But it was all a show and probably never would have been practical with road wear.
