Looking for Tesla solar products? Be patient
CTO says everything is going according to plan
SAN FRANCISCO – When Tesla CEO Elon Musk pitched a solar-powered future a few years back, his vision for independence from fossil fuels dazzled.
Houses equipped with Tesla Solar Roof would feed energy to Powerwall, a sleek storage unit designed to act as an electricity fill-up station for both the house and a Tesla electric car.
But that sunny promise has come with a rain check. Slow production rates have meant too few Powerwalls are available for customers interested in the 3-year-old product. And Tesla installed its first Solar Roofs for customers earlier this year, some two years after unveiling these futuristic solar-paneled glass shingles.
Meanwhile, the former SolarCity, bought by Tesla for $2 billion in 2016, has lost market share over the years to rival installers who are benefitting from the excitement generated by Musk’s off-the-grid overtures.
It’s a situation familiar to many fans of Tesla and its brazen CEO, whose vision for upturning the transportation and energy industries can’t seem to keep up with the factories and systems tasked with making his future a reality.
With solar, a combination of factors – including Musk’s focus on ramping up mission-critical Model 3 car production, demands for the batteries that go into Powerwall from its electric cars and industrial energy storage products, and a repositioning of his SolarCity gambit – means homeowners now willing to purchase rival products need to add a dollop of patience to the purchase price.
March into a Tesla store and show interest in a $6,000 Powerwall, and you’ll be told the wait is six to nine months. Ask about upmarket Solar
Roof, and you’ll come away with a price estimate and a possible installation date of 2019 or beyond.
And walk into any one of Home Depot’s locations within driving distance of its Palo Alto, California, headquarters, and you might not get any answers. Tesla recently announced it would pull out of its new partnership with the big-box retailer at the end of the year, and a recent 9 percent Tesla staff cut means it’s tough to find salespeople there now.
But Tesla counters that all is going to plan. The company is going to double down on selling solar through its
110 U.S. Tesla stores, which it has reconfigured in past months to ensure that Powerwall is on prominent display and in-house solar experts, some of whom worked Home Depot aisles for Tesla, are at the ready.
“No one should see us as stepping back from solar. In fact, it’s the opposite,” Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel tells USA TODAY. “It’s like with Model 3. People have come flooding in and are waiting on the product. So now we’re aggressively ramping our capacity.”
At the moment, Tesla says it can’t keep up with deposits put down on Powerwall or the interest shown in Solar Roof, which are produced as its Nevada Gigafactory and a plant in Buffalo, New York.
Straubel wouldn’t give details on how many Powerwall sales or deposits Tesla has booked and by how much it plans on expanding factory output to meet that demand. He says production will pick up later this year for Powerwall, reducing wait times. On Solar Roof, production is expected to accelerate next year, he says.
While Tesla can outfit a home with traditional PV, or photovoltaic, panels made by Solar City within six weeks, its once-dominant market position has slipped against rivals Sunrun and Vivint Solar. Tesla had a 16 percent share of the market for installations in
2017, down from 33 percent in 2015, according to GTM Research.
The pressure on Tesla to turn Model 3 into a market-leading electronic vehicle and financial success story has some analysts wondering if solar might stay on the back burner.
With the current delay on Powerwall and Solar Roof, Tesla may have lost “first mover advantage” after creating interest in such categories, says Dylan Miller, solar research analyst with Ibis World. “People will gravitate to whoever has product if the savings are there to be had now.”
But other analysts disagree, arguing that if Tesla is ready to pounce with good products once the market matures, the current delivery lag might prove insignificant.
Straubel says the company not only will be offering industry-leading products, but by moving its sales channel to its stores it can better control a process that traditionally relies on door-to-door sales and cold calls.
“We’re focused intently on the customer experience, not on having a higher market share,” says Straubel, brushing off the fact that in March Tesla/Solar City lost the top spot in residential solar installs to Sunrun. “We’re looking at the bigger picture.”
Although Tesla won’t disclose the level of demand for Powerwall, Straubel says “it’s a big success,” and its deliveries currently prioritize customers who have bought both panels and Powerwall.
Some of its current solar capacity also has been siphoned off by high-profile efforts such as helping Puerto Rico switch to solar power in the wake of last year’s hurricane. Tesla also has made big efforts to secure enterprise contracts.
All of that means if you’re interested in going solar with Tesla right now, you’ll have to be patient.
In New Bedford, Massachusetts, installer and solar energy blogger John Weaver says for some of his customers “the feeling is if you want the hottest and latest stuff, you have to go with Elon. The hope is still that he’ll deliver all of this at a price that works for the masses.”
Straubel insists that remains a safe bet. “We’re not worried,” he says. “The growth ahead will be enormous.”