^{This text initially appeared on Enterprise Insider.}

Elon Musk’s Tesla raked in $1.79 billion in regulatory credit score gross sales final yr, in accordance with a current SEC submitting, because it cashed in on rivals failing to promote sufficient EVs to fulfill emission laws.

Tesla earns regulatory credit by making and promoting electrical autos. It may then promote them to different automakers who haven’t produced sufficient EVs to fulfill emission guidelines imposed by regulators within the US, Europe, and China.

It has confirmed to be an necessary enterprise for Tesla, which doesn’t disclose who it sells the credit to.

Bloomberg, which initially reported on the submitting, calculated that the corporate has pulled in virtually $9 billion from promoting regulatory credit since 2009.

That could be as a lot a shock to Tesla as it’s to anybody. The corporate has anticipated income from regulatory credit to dry up as different automakers ramp up EV manufacturing, with then-CFO Zachary Kirkhorn warning as a lot in a 2020 earnings name.

“We do not handle the enterprise with the idea that regulatory credit will contribute in a major solution to the longer term,” Kirkhorn advised traders, per Bloomberg.

“It would proceed for some time frame, however ultimately this stream of regulatory credit will scale back,” he added.

Nonetheless, that state of affairs has largely did not materialize, with Tesla’s earnings from promoting regulatory credit barely rising from final yr, when it earned $1.776 billion.

The Elon Musk-run automaker continues to dominate the US electrical automobile market, although it is beginning to lose floor to different opponents.

Nonetheless, lots of its greatest rivals are scaling again their bold EV plans, with Ford suspending $12 billion in funding and Common Motors reintroducing hybrids into their all-electric lineup.

Proper now, the most important risk to Tesla’s dominance comes from China, with BYD overtaking the automaker because the world’s prime vendor of EVs at the beginning of the yr.

Tesla didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Enterprise Insider, made exterior regular working hours.