Anyone Have Tesla Powerwall or Solar?

[HyperionMark]

Don't have a lot to add other than we have loved every second of having solar with battery. They've also helped us keep the place up and running during power outages. Peace of mind is worth a heck of a lot of money.
Word of warning: Just like you wouldn't ask EV advice from a non-EV owner, there seems to be some questionable advice from people on there that don't have solar themselves.

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[md2023]

We have a 12.9 Kw system with a powerwall. We use the powerwall to power the house when the sun is down (and depending on weather, it re-charges during the day) and to charge our vehicles on top of solar power being generated. There is a pretty big decline in generated power Dec-March. It will take about 7-8 years to be worth it financially. We also think it is a good, albeit small, contribution to lessening our impact on the environment.
I'd ask for utility bills and tesla data (pretty easy to get in the app), and of course the contract details to determine whether to buy a new system or take on their old one (or neither). Degradation does happen but it is gradual, over time and in most cases still functions past 10 years - but not a lot of data on that yet.
All in all, we are happy with our decision.

 

[md2023]

It's really a cost question. How many Kw are the panels for? How are the electric bills?

This is true for some, but for us, we also considered peace of mind for future cost increases and interruptions as well as the environmental impact.

 

[Warmoth]

Consider looking at the tesla solar website and see what it would cost to get a new solar array. I know several years ago I looked at Solar Run in Colorado and it was by far the most expensive, and the lease was greater than my monthly electric bill.

Also, there is often a fee charged by the solar provider to have the panels re-installed. If you decide to keep the panels, make sure you're not stuck with the bill, or at least you're aware of the fee.

 

[Supratachophobia]

They are actual panels, and are in the garage because they just replaced the roof. We can keep them (after they are reinstalled) or they'll take them to their new house.
Good thought on the age, newer ones would likely be more efficient.

In a perfect world, keep the powerwall and let the panels go. I would be extremely hesitant to take over an existing system contract with potentially unfavorable terms, especially considering panel cost has basically been slashed in half since that system was commissioned.

 

[risingphoenix]

The number of people that don’t understand TOU billing and net metering in this thread is suprising. If you have TOU and net metering in your area, you absolutely want solar and power walls as they will pay for themselves in a few years. Added bonus by feeding the grid during peak billing period you are not only making money but reducing dependence on the dirtiest electricity sources (peaker). If it were me and you have TOU/net metering, I would price out a completely new system for purchase.

 

[Kgautam28]

They are actual panels, and are in the garage because they just replaced the roof. We can keep them (after they are reinstalled) or they'll take them to their new house.
Good thought on the age, newer ones would likely be more efficient.

Get a quote for reinstall in today's prices, and compare, i had installed in Dec 2020 right now its 2x the cost of my original install, and 4 years later its still making same amount of power.

 

[runningdenver]

I have tesla solar panels and a power wall. Ours are just 2 years old. I haven't been blown away by the panels, but absolutely LOVE the power wall. I now wish I'd got 2. Our neighborhood in the summer seems to get a lot of power outages. I'd get multiple messages from Xcel telling me that 'power in your neighborhood is out, and we don't have an estimate yet of when it'll be back' - except the power wall handled them like a champ. I work from home, so this is a huge benefit to me. Keeping the lights, the router/internet / a/c going. There wasn't a single outage that impacted us.

Also - when tesla announced the CT and the bidirectional charging, they said that you needed a powerwall for that to work. I don't know if that'll still be the case in the future - but that might be another benefit for getting bidirectional charging going (once Rivian allows it).

 

[shandel]

I have Tesla solar panels and powerwalls and would definitely recommend them. However, you might want to invest in your own now that these are seven years old. Also, one tip - figure out your usage including with EV's before buying as you can't add on more panels to an existing Tesla solar installation later. You will need a second installation if you want to add more. I think they do this so they don't have to manage two different warranty dates on a mixed installation.

 

[R1Thor]

7yo panels are already 1/3 through their expected life. Unless they give you a super deal on them.. pass.

And the 7yo Powerwall, hard pass unless it's free.

Last I'd checked, 20 years isn't a moratorium. 7 years in, probably seeing ~7-14% degradation, at most? (They advertise expected 1-2%/year). Odds are it's towards the lower end of that spectrum.

But let's just assume it's worst case. And after 20 years, it's 2%/year. Firstly, at 80%, the warranty would merit a replacement. That's for the entire 20 years, assuming warranty is transferable (I'm pretty sure it is, but I haven't checked since I had my system installed).

Even if it's not, at the 20 year mark, the system doesn't just shut off or go away. Even if you're only getting 60% efficiency, you're still getting 60% 'free' solar at that point.

And again, 'expected life' is not 'until death.' It's 'until the panel is below 80% of the original production.' So, really, Ops calculus should be with respect to only being able to cash in on 2/3 of the remaining warranty term. And I think that's a vastly different calculation.

FWIW: I have solar only (in a state with 1-for-1 Net Metering and with a VERY reliable grid--batteries would absolutely never pay for themselves), but it's been relatively phenomenal. My only gripe was I had 2 inverters go down (which controlled for half of my grid). And I had to wait almost 2 months until they had the bandwidth to fix under warranty. BUT, they did come out and make sure half my panels kept producing in the meantime, and everything was 100% covered under warranty. I'm upset I lost out on some good summer photons, but appreciate that they're busy because they're doing tons of installs, as more and more people are still going green

 

[Shuasha]

Check to see if Tesla actually still has SERVICE in your area. I'm in Chicagoland and they abandoned the area around 2022.
We had ours installed in 2020 and they messed up and cause a roof leak. I made a call, and someone showed up pretty quickly. I ended up having to fight them to fix the roof, they tried blaming old roofing (which they approved 6 months earlier). Eventually it got fixed by them.
We had another leak in 2023 and it took a few weeks until a crew came out, they had to replace 1/2 of our roof, then they had NOBODY to reinstall the panels, they sat on the ground from Sept 2023 until Feb 2024.
Then the inverter went out in June 2024, first available appointment was October 10, they ended up coming out at the end of September to just triage. We missed a huge portion of our production for the year. The inverter still needs to be replaced, every request for them to do the install comes back with "we need to find someone to schedule since we have nobody in your area". I fully expect to not be up and running until next year.
YMMV, but support has been horrendous, you basically have to put in a Better Business Bureau complaint to get anything done.

 

[Rad]

We added Tesla Powerwalls (qty 2) to our solar installation this year. Solar worked great before those were installed. Unfortunately, one of the two batteries failed ("bricked" is what our installer said) and now our system is not fully operational. We've been waiting weeks for a replacement battery and months for the overall system to be operational (it took the installer a couple months to work with Tesla to identify that the battery failed and to put in a warranty claim)...

 

[ccmun]

If you can, get a rid of the panels, then go with another installer. Solar Panels is no longer a priority for Tesla. Customer Serive is horrible. I installed an 8.1 kw system 4 years ago. Production was fine, but the gateway broke once a year and it took weeks to replace. My inverter died twice and this time it has been about 4 months waiting for a replacement. I have to replace my roof, and Tesla told me they no longer remove/reinstall panel systems, so I am migrating to an Enphase system. Stay away from Tesla.

 

[TampaR1T]

Okay, so this is interesting in terms of people's experiences with Tesla solar vs the batteries or both. There also seems to be the factor of the powerwalls as part of an original Tesla system vs an add-on to a previous non-Tesla solar system. FInally, there is also the consideration of when the Tesla products were installed.

I had a near 15kW Tesla panel system with 2 Powerwalls installed by Tesla last year in late 2023. Start to finish, I had an excellent experience. Seamless. My system is set up to generate power and charge the Powerwalls during the day (PWs are usually fully charged in about 2.5 hrs on a sunny day), with the rest going to power the house and back to the grid. I then use the PWs to power the house at night. My electric bill is $30.80 monthly, which is the minimum cost to stay connected to the grid. Even with powering my Rivian 1-2x per week, the power company owes me 3300kW for this year.

Now during my installation, I knewTesla/Solar City previously used subcontractors and there were lawsuits regarding financing and subcontractors telling the customer mistakenly said the customer needed a new roof...and didn't. But that was 7-8 years earlier...and everyone who worked on my house was an American Tesla employee. I heard the bit about Tesla using other companys' inverters, but I was told that Tesla was now using in-house inverters.

I also got a quote from SunRun (recommended by Costco), and their quote for a smaller system with their own panels and 2 Tesla Powerwalls was $80,000+. It seemed sketchy for several reasons, which I won't detail here. Had another discussion with an employee from a Tesla competitor...and it seemed everyone bad-mouthed Tesla, usually with outdated information. One thing was sure, SunRun was a scam. Way overpriced. My system was $51,000 before 30% Federal credits. My system has been tremendous, if not perfect. No regrets here.

It also seems that several people have had difficulty adding PWs to non-Tesla solar systems, and this, I can't speak to. They could be system/component incompatibility.

NO MATTER, as none of this answers the original question from the first post. Considering my comments above, I would recommend getting rid of the system, and if interested, install your own with new parts and pieces. As for storage batteries, if you're thinking of using Tesla PWs, I'd also recommend using Tesla solar as it just seems there might be less complications/design issues...and the PWs would be new with full warranty coverage, as they're guaranteed to last a certain amount of time with only limited amounts of capacity degradation.

That's my opinion, but my experience with Tesla has been great...and I still traded in my 2020 Model Y for...my 2023 R1T.

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