Is $14,000 an acceptable price for a single powerwall and installation?

[StapleGun]

I'm building a house in Michigan and looking to get 2 powerwalls installed in a for backup power. The only company I could find around here that can install them is quoting $28,000 (before tax credit) for the two powerwalls plus installation. Is $14k each a reasonable price? It seams high to me but I'm having trouble finding up-front pricing from Tesla like they used to have.

 

[h2ofun]

I'm building a house in Michigan and looking to get 2 powerwalls installed in a for backup power. The only company I could find around here that can install them is quoting $28,000 (before tax credit) for the two powerwalls plus installation. Is $14k each a reasonable price? It seams high to me but I'm having trouble finding up-front pricing from Tesla like they used to have.

cheaper than I paid

 

[DirtyT3sla]

It's about the going rate, and in Michigan (where I am as well) TGP is the only place that works with Tesla to install them. I can share that they did a great job, and 1.5 years later I'm so happy to have both PW after multiple power outages. I actually wish I got 3 haha. If you want to talk any more feel free to DM me or email me, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to share my email here. If I am I'll share it.

I also made a video of a 50+ hour outage I had with the PW if you care or are looking for any more information:

They will not pay for themselves, but if you lose power with any regularity, they are amazing. As of right now, mine are set at 90% due to the crazy wind we have today.

 

[StapleGun]

It's about the going rate, and in Michigan (where I am as well) TGP is the only place that works with Tesla to install them. I can share that they did a great job, and 1.5 years later I'm so happy to have both PW after multiple power outages. I actually wish I got 3 haha. If you want to talk any more feel free to DM me or email me, but I'm not sure I'm allowed to share my email here. If I am I'll share it.

I also made a video of a 50+ hour outage I had with the PW if you care or are looking for any more information:

They will not pay for themselves, but if you lose power with any regularity, they are amazing. As of right now, mine are set at 90% due to the crazy wind we have today.

Great info, thank you! I'll check out the video later. TGP is who I spoke with as well. Perhaps you cover it in the video but did you get a "Span Panel" as well? Seems like a good way to future proof if I end up wanting solar or someday get an EV which has V2H capabilities.

P.S. I've been a fan of your for a while, loved watching the FSD reviews on Michigan roads before I had access to it.

 

[Redhill_qik]

I'm building a house in Michigan and looking to get 2 powerwalls installed in a for backup power. The only company I could find around here that can install them is quoting $28,000 (before tax credit) for the two powerwalls plus installation. Is $14k each a reasonable price? It seams high to me but I'm having trouble finding up-front pricing from Tesla like they used to have.

I picked a random address in Detroit, MI that is in your user profile and Tesla came back with the following:

So getting a 3rd party quoting $28,000 for two Powerwalls isn't bad for your area. In my area the price is lower, so Tesla must be relying on 3rd party installers for Detroit.

 

[thesmokingman]

I'm building a house in Michigan and looking to get 2 powerwalls installed in a for backup power. The only company I could find around here that can install them is quoting $28,000 (before tax credit) for the two powerwalls plus installation. Is $14k each a reasonable price? It seams high to me but I'm having trouble finding up-front pricing from Tesla like they used to have.

My uncle in Huntington Beach, CA was just quoted 16K for two powerwalls installed, an add-on to his existing solarcity setup.. When we had our two powerwalls installed 4-5yrs back it was 7.5k each, but that ofc was part of the solar installation it was a lot easier. 14K seems ridiculous to me but... your locale and market is different to mine.

 

[DirtyT3sla]

Great info, thank you! I'll check out the video later. TGP is who I spoke with as well. Perhaps you cover it in the video but did you get a "Span Panel" as well? Seems like a good way to future proof if I end up wanting solar or someday get an EV which has V2H capabilities.

P.S. I've been a fan of your for a while, loved watching the FSD reviews on Michigan roads before I had access to it.

Thanks!

We kept our normal panel. We had got solar a year earlier from Solar King. If the power goes out, the only big items I really control are the cars (easy from app), stove and dryer (obviously need to turn them on) and then the water heater, which I just run down and flip the breaker for if I don't want it to turn on. But I'll admit, having a smart panel to automate all that during an outage does sound awesome.

 

[StapleGun]

I picked a random address in Detroit, MI that is in your user profile and Tesla came back with the following:
View attachment 879906

So getting a 3rd party quoting $28,000 for two Powerwalls isn't bad for your area. In my area the price is lower, so Tesla must be relying on 3rd party installers for Detroit.

View attachment 879909

I appreciate you looking that up! I was playing around with the calculator on Tesla's site but I couldn't get it to show 2 powerwalls for some reason. That's exactly what I was looking for. I don't mind a slight premium over what Tesla is charging, just wanted to make sure I wasn't getting completely ripped off.

 

[h2ofun]

Thanks!

We kept our normal panel. We had got solar a year earlier from Solar King. If the power goes out, the only big items I really control are the cars (easy from app), stove and dryer (obviously need to turn them on) and then the water heater, which I just run down and flip the breaker for if I don't want it to turn on. But I'll admit, having a smart panel to automate all that during an outage does sound awesome.

I believe in the KISS approach. My replacement panel was dumb

 

[charlesj]

I'm building a house in Michigan and looking to get 2 powerwalls installed in a for backup power. The only company I could find around here that can install them is quoting $28,000 (before tax credit) for the two powerwalls plus installation. Is $14k each a reasonable price? It seams high to me but I'm having trouble finding up-front pricing from Tesla like they used to have.

Come to think of it, back in 2019 when I started the process for powerwalls, a 3rd party installer quoted that much as well. Then I contacted Tesla.
Their price was $18.3k and installed it in May 2020.
Do you have micro inverters or standalone inverters? Enphase dropped their prices over the years, but you need their micro inverters.

 

[StapleGun]

Come to think of it, back in 2019 when I started the process for powerwalls, a 3rd party installer quoted that much as well. Then I contacted Tesla.
Their price was $18.3k and installed it in May 2020.
Do you have micro inverters or standalone inverters? Enphase dropped their prices over the years, but you need their micro inverters.

I don't have solar (yet) so no inverters.

 

[jrweiss98020]

AFAIK, Tesla does not install micorinverters - only standard inverters. Many 3rd-party installers will give you the option, though. However, few people "need" microinverters. They are useful when the panels are in varied orientations (some facing S, E, W...), but more expensive than standard string inverters.

Remember that if you don't get any solar panels, you don't get any government rebates. It would be best to get a reasonable solar array to recharge the Powerwalls.

 

[sunwarriors]

I'd take the other side of the equation and get microinverters instead of strings if I do it again. Look at the threads here complaining about replacements for central inverters and the time it took. I think there maybe other downsides like bringing higher voltage down to the garage/house/ground level as well (some installers here can correct me if this is totally not a problem).

Bad inverters could purely be a solar edge problem possibly, but a central inverter is still a larger single point of failure IMO and there are just enough threads here complaining about it.

When I did my quotes (not from Tesla), the cost was pretty much nil difference in cost or for a $40k+ project, maybe $1k more if even that. Cost was just so minor in my case that I don't think there is enough of a cost/return benefit.

There is that DC/AC conversion lost, but I still feel that's overblown in real world use cases (either I have sun/enough energy or not enough and I'm still short either way).

Enphase also has a 25 year warranty on microinverters vs. for the string inverter folks, it's 12? 10 years? I assume microinverters are so plentiful/common in the field that replacing them is faster and folks can even stock up on them as spares if they're that concerned.

 

[mike01]

I paid $20,000 to have 2 Powerwalls installed in SE Michigan last spring. This was in addition to having a 12.24kW solar system installed. $28K seems high, but it’s possible prices have gone up since last year.

 

[charlesj]

.... I assume microinverters are so plentiful/common in the field that replacing them is faster and folks can even stock up on them as spares if they're that concerned.

When one of my inverters stopped reporting it didn't take long to get a replacement and system still operated 16/17th of its capability for that time in transit and me installing it.

 

[charlesj]

I paid $20,000 to have 2 Powerwalls installed in SE Michigan last spring. This was in addition to having a 12.24kW solar system installed. $28K seems high, but it’s possible prices have gone up since last year.

Was that a 3rd party installation or Tesla package with panels?