I don’t know. I think support of the development and adoption of new technologies is a valid and necessary function of government. There are many instances where the cost, risk, or vision associated with a new development are beyond the scope of business or “the market”. The space program is a great example.
Government provided the initial vision, investment, and development. Now there are innumerable products and services that we use every day and businesses are making billions of dollars on; medical technology, microelectronics, global communication, global positioning, etc. Huge numbers of people have been employed, private business has built on that foundation, and the success or failure of any related product or service is determined by “the market”. These things would never have happened at the pace they did without the initial government investment and vision.
Electric cars are pretty much the same. Government has assisted the development in the form of tax rebates, but now most of that is finished and people are deciding to buy them or not based on their merits. Personally, current electric cars don’t meet my use case, but that could change in the future, and they do for hundreds of thousands of people today. If the electric car business fails in the future it will be hard to suggest that the paltry government investment wasn’t worth trying.