PSA: Tesla solar panels $1.70-$1.99/watt

[teethdood]

Tesla to slash prices of solar panels in attempt to revive sales

Official announcement to be made today. I believe the price is before 30% incentives. For comparison, I had another system installed late last year for $2.50/watt in CA and I thought I had the best ever deal.

 

[gnumeric]

Sweet, time to add more panels!

 

[kengchang]

Is this $2.00/W after ITC credit? Getting conflicted report from NY and TheVerge

 

[Dan123]

The chances of Tesla dropping the actual price to 1.70 are slim to none. There will be some catch. It's likely to be the price after all federal and state incentives.

 

[GenSao]

Is this $2.00/W after ITC credit? Getting conflicted report from NY and TheVerge

Using Tesla's website I get the following.

$11,400 / 4 KW = $2.85/KW or $7,980 / 4 KW = $2.00/KWH with ITC.

 

[kengchang]

Using Tesla's website I get the following.

View attachment 402534

$11,400 / 4 KW = $2.85/KW or $7,980 / 4 KW = $2.00/KWH with ITC.

$2.85 was the price since last Tuesday though.

 

[teethdood]

Using Tesla's website I get the following.

$11,400 / 4 KW = $2.85/KW or $7,980 / 4 KW = $2.00/KWH with ITC.

That's the old price of $2.85/watt. New price will be announced officially later today, according to news sites.

 

[teethdood]

The verge article has been updated to say that the new configurator is live and the price is after incentives, which doesn't make any sense.

If the new configurator is live and the current price is $2.85 after incentives, how the heck did they get $1.70-$1.99/watt figure?

I don't think the new configurator with the updated price is live yet. Let's say the new soon-to-be-released configurator shows $1.70-$1.99/watt after incentives, it's still a good deal relative to other quotes I got in the past.

My old home got a $2.50/watt before incentives, or $1.75/watt after 30% incentives, which is inline with the supposed new Tesla pricing. I'd take Tesla's system over my old home's crappy system any time.

 

[kengchang]

The verge article has been updated to say that the new configurator is live and the price is after incentives, which doesn't make any sense.

If the new configurator is live and the current price is $2.85 after incentives, how the heck did they get $1.70-$1.99/watt figure?

I don't think the new configurator with the updated price is live yet. Let's say the new soon-to-be-released configurator shows $1.70-$1.99/watt after incentives, it's still a good deal relative to other quotes I got in the past.

My old home got a $2.50/watt before incentives, or $1.75/watt after 30% incentives, which is inline with the supposed new Tesla pricing. I'd take Tesla's system over my old home's crappy system any time.

It's $2.85 before incentive, $1.99 after incentive. Maybe this is already the price cut but it happened since last Tuesday. I am going to wait a bit more before contacting my advisor.

 

[teethdood]

It's $2.85 before incentive, $1.99 after incentive. Maybe this is already the price cut but it happened since last Tuesday. I am going to wait a bit more before contacting my advisor.

$2.85 before incentives, $1.99 after incentives, math works out.
However, if you go to the configurator, it clearly says $2.85 AFTER incentives. Therefore, the new pricing has not been released to the Tesla site yet. Theverge article says the new pricing has been released to the site, which is clearly wrong.

 

[kengchang]

$2.85 before incentives, $1.99 after incentives, math works out.
However, if you go to the configurator, it clearly says $2.85 AFTER incentives. Therefore, the new pricing has not been released to the Tesla site yet. Theverge article says the new pricing has been released to the site, which is clearly wrong.

Not following.

 

[teethdood]

Not following.

View attachment 402572

My mistake. I guess my browser's cache wasn't cleared so my math was wrong.

$1.99/watt for Tesla after incentives, vs my old house's 2018 system of $1.75 after incentives using crappy Hyundai panels/inverters. SOLD!

 

[Az_Rael]

I just want to post a cautionary tale for those thinking about going with Tesla Energy. My experience with their customer service has been terrible across the board. From contract signing to design to install to repairs after install every single part has been terrible. And not small terrible, like showing up on install day with the WRONG panels terrible, or taking 5 months to agree to come out and fix an issue with my panels that existed since install.

My only advice is if you go through Tesla is to get absolutely everything the sales person tells you in writing. If they tell you Solar Edge power optimizers, that needs to be in writing or they will show up with Delta string inverters and tell you "sorry".

You have to keep on top of them every single step or your project will have month long delays. I waited 2 months to turn my system on because Tesla forgot to push a button to submit my PTO. When I would call, they would assure me the issue was with my utility. When I finally called my utility they told me the issue was on Tesla's end. Called Tesla back and they were all, "oh". Had my PTO within days.

Maybe other folks had great experiences going with Tesla, but I do not recommend them.

 

[mswlogo]

That sounds like really good pricing. Assuming it includes EVERYTHING not just the panels themselves (Labor, Inverter etc.).

 

[mswlogo]

Not following.

View attachment 402572

I just tried it and it came out to $2.85 BEFORE incentives which is probably now competitive but not exactly slashed pricing.
That's about what I paid 4 years ago from local company top of the line LG panels available at the time. Solar Edge Inverter and Micro inverters.

Nice to see sane prices. The Powerwalls still seem pretty excessively priced. Especially where you may only get 10 years out of them.

 

[KSilver2000]

I just tried it and it came out to $2.85 BEFORE incentives which is probably now competitive but not exactly slashed pricing.
That's about what I paid 4 years ago from local company top of the line LG panels available at the time. Solar Edge Inverter and Micro inverters.

I was going to say something similar.
Not sure how “National averages” are calculated. Is Tesla just comparing $/w with the other big guys like SunPower and Sunrun?

As you did, I got an LG 365W panel system with solar edge and micros for a hair under $3/w BEFORE incentives from a highly reputable local dealer in San Francisco Bay Area. If I had instead gotten cheaper Canadian Solar 330W panels (as that is what Tesla is using with these new installs), my cost could’ve been well under $2.50/w. And even cheaper with 300W panels. Except I would’ve needed to cover more of my roof, which I wasn’t wanting to do.

 

[jrmnet]

I was going to say something similar.
Not sure how “National averages” are calculated. Is Tesla just comparing $/w with the other big guys like SunPower and Sunrun?

As you did, I got an LG 365W panel system with solar edge and micros for a hair under $3/w BEFORE incentives from a highly reputable local dealer in San Francisco Bay Area. If I had instead gotten cheaper Canadian Solar 330W panels (as that is what Tesla is using with these new installs), my cost could’ve been well under $2.50/w. And even cheaper with 300W panels. Except I would’ve needed to cover more of my roof, which I wasn’t wanting to do.

Mind if I ask who you went with for an installer?

 

[bob_p]

Just ran numbers through Tesla's website configurators.

16 KW of panels is listed at $42,400 or $2.65/KW before incentives and after the federal tax credit, that drops to $1.855/KW.

The $42,400 price is what Tesla has been offering for a while (not a price change this week). So if Tesla has rolled out new pricing, it's not used in their website configurators yet.

Or, this could just be another example of Tesla's misleading marketing causing confusion - having someone quote the "after incentive" pricing and mistakenly comparing that to "before incentive pricing" (which appears to be 42% higher than the price after applying the 30% tax credit).

We've been on the fence on buying solar panels - and have reached out to Tesla to confirm their current pricing (just in case the website is not correct).

 

[Boourns]

Based on this other thread the sub $2.00 price seems to be a misunderstanding. Tesla Solar Panel now $2.85/W instead of $3.49/W

I configured this morning and I am still getting quoted $2.65/W -- same as yesterday morning.

 

[bob_p]

Assuming the media was correct in the 38% price decrease, called Tesla to schedule a site visit and get a proposal.

And...

They confirmed the website configurator is correct. Panel prices will be $2.50, $2.65 or $2.85, depending upon the location - before incentives.

The media confusion is evidently because someone was comparing the numbers coming up on Tesla's configurator (after incentives) with numbers from the other solar companies (before incentives).

Tesla may have priced their panels below competitors - but probably more in the range of 5-10% - not 38%.

Since our electricity costs $.11/KWh, the break even on a 16KW/4 PW system (which wouldn't provide all of our electricity) would be around 20 years. Removing one PW would reduce that to 18 years. Still much too long, especially considering the warranty would run out for most (if not all) of the components well before we hit break even...

However, if Tesla really had lowered their panel prices by 38% below the current pricing, that would have reduced the break even to 15 years (with 4 PW) or 13 years (with 3 PW), getting closer to a reasonable number in an area with low electric rates.

At least in our area - don't believe they'll be getting many orders based on the "new" lower prices...