Singlehandedly, Musk reminded Panasonic and peers that the real gold rush of the decade ahead isn’t making cars, but in the carbon-neutral power sources that fuel their engines. The hope was that Abe, as part of his multifaceted effort to shift Japan’s economy into a higher gear, would get on board. That meant moving beyond a decades-long obsession with nuclear power and pivoting tax and regulatory incentives toward renewables.