I'm guessing it's a sacrifice he's willing to make towards his goal, especially since he has other ventures such as SpaceX which if I had to guess has more potential value than an electric car company when there are a bunch other car companies getting into the game. There are a lot less rocket companies with comparable experience.
This implies it's intentional, that there's some sort of master plan. I don't think that's it. I think he's just intoxicated by the prospect of basically unlimited power and is unable to think rationally about the entire situation.