Elon Musk announced that Tesla will bundle its solar products, solar roofs and solar panels, with its Powerwall home battery pack.
You won’t be able to buy one without the other from next week.
Last month, Electrek reported exclusively that Tesla will stop taking orders for Powerwall without solar panels or sunroofs.
Powerwall has become extremely popular.
Wait times have increased despite Tesla’s efforts to increase production, and the company even raised the price of the battery pack twice in just a few months.
It made sense to limit the ways to purchase the product by linking it to other Tesla products.
Now Tesla is going a step further and doing it the other way around.
CEO Elon Musk said people will only buy solar products with a Powerwall:
“Starting next week, Tesla Solar Panels & Solar Roof will only be sold as an integrated product with Tesla Powerwall battery.”
While people could still order solar panels and solar roofs without Powerwall after the change last month, it now sounds like the change is going both ways.
Tesla only wants to sell its energy products for the home as a bundle with energy generation (solar roof and panels) and energy storage (Powerwall).
Update: Musk has now also added that solar will now only be fed directly into Powerwall:
“Solar energy is supplied exclusively to Powerwall. Powerwall works only between the energy meter and the home’s main breaker panel, allowing for super easy installation and seamless whole-home backup during a power outage. “
Electrek’s Take
This is not a huge change, as Tesla already made the move to sell Powerwalls only through its solar installations last month.
As for people ordering solar without Powerwall, I’m sure it was a fair chunk of Tesla’s solar orders given the cost of a Powerwall, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s about half or even the minority of the projects.
Powerwall integration was actually one of the benefits of buying Tesla solar, but the company also worked with other solar installers to add Powerwall to their offering.
I’d rather Elon address the controversy over the price of sunroofs, especially when it comes to contracts that have already been signed, but I don’t think that’s happening.
What do you think of Tesla’s last step? Let us know in the comment section below.
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