If he knows it's going to fail, he should consider putting a death ray on a militarized Model S with bullet proof windows. Maybe with optional retractable VTOL (Tesla's last patent) side lifters. He could probably sell it to the US government and save Tesla.
What's stopping Elon Musk from working with Shai Agassi at Better Place? Doesn't Shai have an open offer for a $3-4 billion contract for a US automaker to produce an electric car that works in their battery-swapping station network?
I realize the offer is to a major US automaker which is much different but it just seems like a brilliant billionaire like Elon Musk and an amazing entrepreneur like Shai Agassi (who has raised $900MM+) could pull it off.