I think he is less worried about competitors than the government itself. Specifically, unelected bureaucrats with lots of power and few responsibilities.
He will actually use his position in the government to take down his competitors (by, for example, stopping the tax benefit of EV). Elon has grown into the biggest corrupt guy
Elon now IS an unelected bureucrat with lots of power and few responsibilities. If he's really afraid of that kind of thing, he should throw himself out.
That's what he is doing. He designed the department to have an expiration date.
That would be out of character for someone that opened Tesla's patents and lets competitors use the supercharger network.
He spent $250m+ on helping get Trump elected.
Of course he is going to try and recoup some of that money back.
He already did. Look at Tesla’s stock since the election.