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Best place to buy a couple Tesla Powerwalls
- Thread starter Docfxit
- Start date
I'd like to find the cheapest place to buy two Powerwalls.
Tesla is quoting $23,200 - 5,200 for Solar & Powerwall Discount = $18,000
Tesla is saying it comes with everything.
My Electrician is saying he will sell me two Powerwalls for $18,800 plus $4,850 for Tesla gate way
He says the communication box that comes with the Powerwalls don't talk to the solar panels, So. Calf. Edison and the car.
So I need the Tesla gate way.
Does anyone know where I can get a better price on two Powerwalls?
Tesla is quoting $23,200 - 5,200 for Solar & Powerwall Discount = $18,000
Tesla is saying it comes with everything.
My Electrician is saying he will sell me two Powerwalls for $18,800 plus $4,850 for Tesla gate way
He says the communication box that comes with the Powerwalls don't talk to the solar panels, So. Calf. Edison and the car.
So I need the Tesla gate way.
Does anyone know where I can get a better price on two Powerwalls?
So your electrician is selling you a (2) Powerwall system for $23,650, and Tesla will sell you those same (2) Powerwalls plus rooftop PV for $18,000.
One will charge from the grid, the other will include a solar system on the roof and make you money back.
There isn't a cheaper option.
The tesla gateway is the the device that talks to the solar and controls it with powerwalls. There is only one, and it isnt 4k cost for the physical product (but could be more than that for the product + installation, which is almost assuredly what your third party installer is quoting you).
My third party installer is quoting:
$1,750 to install powerwall and gateway
$1,317 for conduit, breakers & material
$4,850 for the Tesla gateway
$18,800 for the two Powerwalls
This has nothing to do with the solar. The Tesla gateway as you can see is not the installation. He says the communication box that comes with the Powerwalls don't include communicating to the Solar, the car, the house and to the electric company.
$1,750 to install powerwall and gateway
$1,317 for conduit, breakers & material
$4,850 for the Tesla gateway
$18,800 for the two Powerwalls
This has nothing to do with the solar. The Tesla gateway as you can see is not the installation. He says the communication box that comes with the Powerwalls don't include communicating to the Solar, the car, the house and to the electric company.
Perhaps I'm missing something here, but going with Tesla for the whole package sounds like a much, much smarter move, especially given the pricing.
Why mix and match? Doing that will only open you up to all sorts of finger pointing when something goes wrong, which, trust me, after a few years or a decade, you WILL have at least one service call. (Plus Tesla is likely to be around for decades--a local mom-and-pop is likely to have a MUCH shorter lifespan.)
We've had Tesla out several times for repairs on our decade-old PV system and adding another contractor/company to the mix would be a recipe for disaster.
Just use your own referral/loyalty credit (if you have one)
Why mix and match? Doing that will only open you up to all sorts of finger pointing when something goes wrong, which, trust me, after a few years or a decade, you WILL have at least one service call. (Plus Tesla is likely to be around for decades--a local mom-and-pop is likely to have a MUCH shorter lifespan.)
We've had Tesla out several times for repairs on our decade-old PV system and adding another contractor/company to the mix would be a recipe for disaster.
Just use your own referral/loyalty credit (if you have one)
jhn_
Member
This either includes a Tesla Gateway or at least Powerwall+ unit that integrates a solar inverter, system controller (gateway), and battery all in one unit.
Your electrician is misleading you, either intentionally or unintentionally but I’ll leave it to you do make that distinction. Every Powerwall install includes some sort of system controller from Tesla. Most usually a Gateway or Powerwall+ unit. Either of these are the system controller of the whole Tesla energy ecosystem. It controls the flow of power between your power sources/consumers: grid, house load including your EV, and solar panels, etc.
We dont know what the Technician is calling the "Tesla gateway", because the only tesla gateway we are familiar with is the one that comes with the powerwalls. Perhaps you need to get that electrician to send you the specifications for that 4800 device. I suspect its something like a smart Electrical panel like a span or something, but not something from Tesla.
The electrician quoting you that should be able to clearly send you a spec sheet on it, etc.
I followed your suggestion and asked my electrician for a spec sheet. It's a Tesla Backup Gateway 2. I contacted Tesla. They told me the Backup Gateway 2 is now included with the powerwalls. My electrician contacted his warehouse and verified it is included. He removed it from the estimate. Tesla also told me the web site is run by a computer and is not accurate. She told me when I click on place your order asks for a $100 deposit that is fully refundable. After placing the order the Tesla engineers are going to create three different estimates for me to look at.
1. I'm guessing the new Tesla estimate is going to go up.
2. I am a fan of having only one company to deal with so there isn't any finger pointing.
3. I don't know how to obtain/apply for referral/loyalty credits.
1. I'm guessing the new Tesla estimate is going to go up.
2. I am a fan of having only one company to deal with so there isn't any finger pointing.
3. I don't know how to obtain/apply for referral/loyalty credits.
You are obviously free to do whatever you want, however if it were me, there is zero (less than zero) chance I would ever consider going with that electrician you mentioned, after they included a $4800 line item on your order, seemingly doubled down on it when you asked, then only removed it after you pointed it out again and they then "checked with his warehouse" or whatever.
That electrician / company is not versed well enough in Tesla equipment for me to consider them, even for a second, based on what you posted here. You also likely want to get apples to apples quotes, instead of a quote for solar + powerwall from Tesla and a quote for just powerwalls from some other company.
I would tell that electrician "thank you for your time, I appreciate the quote and have decided to move in a different direction", and possibly get quotes from some other company instead of that one, and for like for like (solar + batteries).
I am not against third party installers at all (far from it), and going direct with Tesla has its own challenges (see the customer service thread stickied here for some challenges people have had), but in general, Tesla tends to be the least expensive if your home is a fairly easy install.
If you are looking at third parties, you want a competent one, and Im sorry but for me, an electrician adding what amounts to a 5k line item on a quote for hardware that is included, then doubling down on telling me "its not the same thing thats included" and only pivoting when I directly pointed it out, is a complete. utter, 100% non starter to do business with.
Yes. SCE is NEM 3. I don't know how all that works. Years ago I had a solar rep come to my house and he said he applied for me to get one for one and that it would be grandfatherd in. I have no idea if that was true or if it still holds.
1'st I know nothing.
2'nd I'm trying to shoot for a solar system/battery backup that provides me with a zero $ edison bill. If I make too much electricity and give it to SCE for peanuts I don't care. I'm not trying to make money on the extra electricity I make. I'm only trying to reduce my current bill.
3'rd My average daily usage for the year '22 was 43.7kW requiring 20 panels
My average daily usage for the highest month in '22 was 74.1 requiring 33 panels
My understanding is it's a total crap shoot as to what I will require, because of the weather and, if the number of people in my house changes, and what I will produce from what ever I end up buying, because of how much it produces, because of the quality of the system and the weather, and if it fails.
I would like to shoot for a few more panels than I currently need in order to make me feel good in keeping the SCE bill close to zero. If I make too much electricity I don't care.
I don't know for sure I'll be going with Tesla yet. I can't get the SGIP credit with Tesla even though I qualify for it, because I live in CPUC High Fire Threat District - Tier 3, because Tesla has used up all their credits. So I can't count on that to reduce my cost.
If I end up going with someone else I could get the credit.
From the web page quote for Tesla it was for 27 panels. I have no idea what the real quote will be for.
Also known as... "oops, I tried to charge you five thousand dollars extra but you caught me - but I'll blame it on some fictitious warehouse".
QUICK... hire this electrician *right away* before he goes and rips someone *else* off.
Tesla's quote will generally only change based on the system size. After you submit your order, they will come up with some options on how to fit the panels on your roof and may adjust the size accordingly. You mentioned being interested in 27-33 panels. You can change the size on the web site (in 1-panel increments; each is 400W) and see what the price will be for those options. If Tesla has to do main panel work or similar, that may end up being extra, but they avoid doing anything they don't need to, so I would not expect a surprise there.
The amount you generate can be a crap shoot, but also, if you want to narrow down the possibilities, you can use PVWatts to model how much to expect for your location during each month of the year. If you will be under NEM3, you may need to generate a lot more to offset any power you import. But if you're self-sufficient then you don't have to worry as much about that.
The amount you generate can be a crap shoot, but also, if you want to narrow down the possibilities, you can use PVWatts to model how much to expect for your location during each month of the year. If you will be under NEM3, you may need to generate a lot more to offset any power you import. But if you're self-sufficient then you don't have to worry as much about that.
jhn_
Member
What @evermore said. Tesla is usually very true to their estimates and will only add things that you actually need that may be specific to your house and install. Tesla tries to be very generic and cookie cutter with installs so there aren’t a lot of surprises and the installs go quicker. That is something you will see some people complain about, is if they have unique needs for their install Tesla might decline the business. If one things is true about going with Tesla, is that their pricing is very transparent.
If you think that you could qualify for SGIP, I would contact several other local third party installers. Like @jjrandorin, I think that the current electrician has demonstrated significant shortcomings, plural, and I wouldn't consider that company any longer. We qualified for SGIP, and it made the price significantly less than Tesla, but it did take some diligence to find a third party that knew what was what. Our particular 3rd party used an outside subcontractor to handle the SGIP process and it went like clockwork and we did end up approved for SGIP.
I would go large on your solar system. Under NEM 3.0, the ROI is longer, but being able to have power during grid failures due to heat/earthquakes/equipment failures has definite value to us.
All the best,
BG
If I was in your shoes, I'd probably wait to see how the income monthly fee is factored in before going solar. It has been reported from the 4 proposals to add between $10/month or so to $~90 or something based on income. If on NEM3.0, it's probably a non-starter in terms of ROI I feel, but that income monthly rule I think would add a high fixed cost making any calculations harder. No one factors in the cost of $$ involved with solar which is a large upfront/fixed cost.
Without NEM2.0, you also don't have as much of a reason to rush anymore so again, if I was in your shoes, I'd wait, but that's me.
If some draconian monthly gets put in based on income because the CPUC is in the pocket of the utilities, we could see rates drop by 1/3 (or whatever they claim).
Unless you get free batteries, SGIP is not as much anymore neither. Since you want to zero your $ on edison bill, my advice here has always been care less about ROI, get massive batteries and try to cut out the utility completely. It's less of a thought exercise if you simply don't care about ROI and just move forward no matter what because you know utilities will try to screw you and everyone else over. Batteries give you more options/flexibility.
I think it'll be very hard for NEM3.0 to zero out their bills since most NEM2.0 owners did it with 1:1 net metering, but it's like 1 : 0.25 now on NEM3.0 so I don't see how it can work. Batteries were always a bad ROI and I'm of the mindset that it is 0 ROI.
