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Today, I almost bought a Tesla...

3K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  cleavet 
#1 ·
...Powerwall.

At, of all places, Home Depot.



I must not get out much. I signed up with Tesla 5 years ago to be notified when the TPW would be available here in the States. Never received any notifications. Is Tesla actually selling these here now?

I played dumb (not a lot of effort for me) with the Tesla PW sales person at this ridiculously gigantic Kiosk. Asked her what was this about, what does it do, why should I buy it, how will it help me, how will it help the universe, etc. After asking me the square footage of my home and did we "run our air conditioner in the summer often" (just a point of reference, in the Mojave summer, temps may not go Below 90°F for a week) , she began her presentation which included Solar Panel additions.

I asked was this a Solar City deal? That I spoke with Solar City yeas ago. Her response, to my surprise was, "No, this is Tesla Energy". I decided not to pursue the whole Solar City thing with her. At that point I did say "..but I already have Solar". Interestingly her response was "That's great, the Powerwall will work well with your Solar. Do you also own an Electric Vehicle?" I'm thinking to myself; oooh, shes good. After responding in the affirmative, she asked was my EV a Tesla.

My immediate response was "why? Would I get some kinda' discount?" Not really, she replied, but was wondering if I was referred by a Tesla owner as there are some spiffs owners get for all referrals. She then walks me through the Kiosk screen based simple wizard - which seems to be the same on the TPW website linked above - , and I wind up needing at least 4 x 13.5 kWh TPW's totaling $24,300 (not including Installation) in order have a "100% self-powered home". BTW, the spiff is if a customer refers another customer, they get a Red cladded TPW, and not the commoner white TPW.

Basically the kW capacity of the Bolt + 10.5kW solar didn't seem to jive with respect to "peak power" needs during Summer days around here when we may burn through 100kWh/day.

Or, can't I just find a junked Bolt for $10K (or heck, just buy a pre-owned one), yank the battery, jerri-rig it, and do the same thing? If I come home in the evening, and I'm at 5% SoC of a 60kW Bolt Battery, and I want a full charge by morning using my L2 charger, will 4 TPW's charge the Bolt AND run the air conditioner all night?

Keep in mind that on a perfect summer day, our panels generate 77kWh max. Does this not add up? Even if I had more TPW's, I don't think the existing panels couldn't charge all of the TPW's and provide power to the home -- I would need to take the panels off the wall, and drive them down to the local Tesla Supercharger station to get 100% SoC. :eek:

Bottom line is the grid-tie system has the bill already 'zero'ed out'. Lastly, She told me someone would call me, at some unspecified time in the future to set an appointment to review things...after I gave her a $500 Reservation fee.
 
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#4 ·
Doesn't LG Chem have a competing home battery solution too? I wonder if there are other companies doing this Li-Ion battery packs for home and how do they stack up in price and energy density? I don't have solar and I haven't researched it at all, but is Tesla really the best option?

I've ignored those people in Home Depot, but there is no way I would give them a $500 deposit. There is still a chance your $500 might disappear. They can get back to me when they are in stock and shipping.
 
#8 ·
JLM is another company doing a home backup system, but when I looked into it, it seemed a bit pricey for what it provides. We have solar and generate 100% of usage (before adding the Chevy Bolt) with Net metering. Natural Gas generators still seem to be the most efficient and cost effective way to backup the home in case of a power loss. That would keep your car running too.
 
#10 ·
Doesn't LG Chem have a competing home battery solution too? I wonder if there are other companies doing this Li-Ion battery packs for home and how do they stack up in price and energy density? I don't have solar and I haven't researched it at all, but is Tesla really the best option?
Here's a relatively recent comparison of various home battery systems: https://news.energysage.com/tesla-powerwall-vs-sonnen-eco-vs-lg-chem/

BatteryUniversity.com can probably give you the technical information you want.
 
#5 ·
The PowerWall is the cheapest per kWh that will be on the market the next few years. Battery storage does not make economic sense right now and won't until prices decrease by 50% or they extend the warranty to 20 years and 80% capacity. I would have loved to get one, but every solar installation company says wait 5 years and evaluate at that time. It costs me $0.02 per kWh that I use for the grid, the 13.5 Powerwall would have to feed my house with 500,000 kWh to pay back for itself at $10,000. However, to charge my EV I would need four Powerwalls to charge my car the 40 plus kWh I use everyday and provide energy at night.
 
#7 ·
I bought my solar with Solar City two years ago. I still have a non-SC solar installation at my other house...since 1997. I bought the current (heh, heh) system through the kiosk at Home Depot. Tesla phased out the "Solar City" moniker over the last year. The PowerWalls have always been a Tesla product, since day one. The solar side of the business used to be Solar City, hence the confusion. They're all under the Tesla nameplate now: Vehicle, Solar PV and Battery Backup.
 
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