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Second PW Installation Cost

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B

BIC1

Member
Feb 19, 2020
157
33
Missouri USA
#1
Had a single PW installed a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, the recommendation of the installer was incorrect and I actually need two. The installer is an authorized partner and install was fine. I paid $11,500 for the install.

Taking out the material costs (Battery $6,500, Gateway $1,100, cable est $400?), shipping, tax, labor & profit was about $3,500. It took three guys three full days to install. There was probably 60-70 ft of gray sheath (think it says 2 AWG) cable from meter to Gateway.

For the second battery, the installer wants $8,000. That means shipping, tax, profit & labor of $1,500. I can't imagine it taking two guys more than a couple of hours to hook a second up next to the first one.

Any thoughts on this pricing? Thanks.
 
#5
BIC1 said:
Had a single PW installed a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, the recommendation of the installer was incorrect and I actually need two. The installer is an authorized partner and install was fine. I paid $11,500 for the install.

Taking out the material costs (Battery $6,500, Gateway $1,100, cable est $400?), shipping, tax, labor & profit was about $3,500. It took three guys three full days to install. There was probably 60-70 ft of gray sheath (think it says 2 AWG) cable from meter to Gateway.

For the second battery, the installer wants $8,000. That means shipping, tax, profit & labor of $1,500. I can't imagine it taking two guys more than a couple of hours to hook a second up next to the first one.

Any thoughts on this pricing? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Pricing seems fair. They need to make a profit installing these. They pay close to what we pay for the PowerWall unit. Add in 6 (3hr X 2 people) man hours at $150/hr labor + driving time.
 
#6
jboy210 said:
Pricing seems fair. They need to make a profit installing these. They pay close to what we pay for the PowerWall unit. Add in 6 (3hr X 2 people) man hours at $150/hr labor + driving time.
Click to expand...
$100 for 2nd battery with PROPER planning / do it right the first time (2nd battery in mind from concept to deployment). 1 day in and out 2 guys. One guy installed the PWs and the beautiful routings of the conduit. The other guy the gateways & backup load center for the hot electrical side. Unforeseen things like customer expectations with fire rated walls caused twiddling thumbs for 2 hrs. Fortunately I had the Wall Connector install the next day where they the lost 2 hrs was made up. They went home early the 2nd day being a Friday. A long hard work week for the crew.

If I installed a third, I expect it to be $1000-2000 to install PW, pull more cable, new breaker and re-provision the Gateway. Depends if they allocate half day or a full day.
 
#7
SoundDaTrumpet said:
$100 for 2nd battery with PROPER planning / do it right the first time (2nd battery in mind from concept to deployment). 1 day in and out 2 guys. One guy installed the PWs and the beautiful routings of the conduit. The other guy the gateways & backup load center for the hot electrical side. Unforeseen things like customer expectations with fire rated walls caused twiddling thumbs for 2 hrs. Fortunately I had the Wall Connector install the next day where they the lost 2 hrs was made up. They went home early the 2nd day being a Friday. A long hard work week for the crew.

If I installed a third, I expect it to be $1000-2000 to install PW, pull more cable, new breaker and re-provision the Gateway. Depends if they allocate half day or a full day.
Click to expand...

Are you saying something different happens when you go from 2 PWs to 3 PWs versus 1PW to 2PWs to increase the costs?

We have 2PWs and thinking about adding a 3rd, but want to understand the costs.
 
Last edited:
#8
jboy210 said:
Are you saying something different happens when you go from 2 PWs to 3 PWs versus 1PW to 2PWs to increase the costs?

We have 2PWs and thinking about adding a 3rd, but want to understand the costs.
Click to expand...
No, that's not what I am saying. I am saying that it costed only $100 of extra installation charges for each additional PW during early talks.

I have asked your question, and the reply from Tesla was it will be on the low end of the range. It would be beautiful if Elon announced a "come back special" to install additional Powerwalls to existing installation on their website to eliminate the guesswork.

I didn't fully understand how the PW system operated during peak periods. I falsely assumed that only a portion of solar generation went to the grid for solar credits. It turns out the PW system exports every watt of power to the grid during peak. My limiter was being able to discharge the system to comply with California SGIP requirements to avoid paying back the incentive. My misunderstanding alone left me undersizing the PW need for my home by one PW.
 
Last edited:
#9
SoundDaTrumpet said:
No, that's not what I am saying. I am saying that it costed only $100 of extra installation charges for each additional PW during early talks.

I have asked your question, and the reply from Tesla was it will be on the low end of the range. It would be beautiful if Elon announced a "come back special" to install additional Powerwalls to existing installation on their website to eliminate the guesswork.

I didn't fully understand how the PW system operated during peak periods. I falsely assumed that only a portion of solar generation went to the grid for solar credits. It turns out the PW system exports every watt of power to the grid during peak. My limiter was being able to discharge the system to comply with California SGIP requirements to avoid paying back the incentive. My misunderstanding alone left me undersizing the PW need for my home by one PW.
Click to expand...

OK. Thanks.

BTW,the SGIP sounds great. I will check and see if I meet the criteria. Not sure if I do since Tesla installed the system.
 
Last edited:
#11
jboy210 said:
Are you saying something different happens when you go from 2 PWs to 3 PWs versus 1PW to 2PWs to increase the costs?
Click to expand...
There may be something to this but it may be local building codes. Not sure.

I installed 2PWs and a few months later an neighbor installed 3. There was a huge difference in the permit costs and install costs as well as additional equipment and configurations. He was told it was because of three PWs but there are so many variables it's hard to tell what might have changed the cost.
 
#12
aesculus said:
There may be something to this but it may be local building codes. Not sure.

I installed 2PWs and a few months later an neighbor installed 3. There was a huge difference in the permit costs and install costs as well as additional equipment and configurations. He was told it was because of three PWs but there are so many variables it's hard to tell what might have changed the cost.
Click to expand...

From what I've seen posted here, the two differences are the following:
1. Going from 1 to 2 powerwalls also usually means going from partial to whole-house backup. This potentially saves moving circuits to a critical load panel for backup.
2. Going from 2 to 3 powerwalls moves the total wattage over 10 kW, which at least here in California changes the categorization of the system from small (residential) to large (commercial). This used to mean you were required to add a net generation meter. I understand that you can theoretically avoid that now, but it requires jumping through extra hoops. On the positive side, the SGIP incentives are also categorized by small vs. large, so it's theoretically easier to get money for a large system, but I've heard Tesla is no longer doing applications for large systems.
 
#13
cwied said:
Going from 2 to 3 powerwalls moves the total wattage over 10 kW, which at least here in California changes the categorization of the system from small (residential) to large (commercial).
Click to expand...
This may be the underlying factor. Don't know for sure. And as you said it may be a moving target with some form "interpretation" from each building department.
 
#15
cwied said:
From what I've seen posted here, the two differences are the following:
1. Going from 1 to 2 powerwalls also usually means going from partial to whole-house backup. This potentially saves moving circuits to a critical load panel for backup.
2. Going from 2 to 3 powerwalls moves the total wattage over 10 kW, which at least here in California changes the categorization of the system from small (residential) to large (commercial). This used to mean you were required to add a net generation meter. I understand that you can theoretically avoid that now, but it requires jumping through extra hoops. On the positive side, the SGIP incentives are also categorized by small vs. large, so it's theoretically easier to get money for a large system, but I've heard Tesla is no longer doing applications for large systems.
Click to expand...

Is 10kW really an issue? My solar roof is 12+ kW. So in theory on a bright sunny summer day it could send more than 10 kW to the grid.
 
#16
jboy210 said:
Is 10kW really an issue? My solar roof is 12+ kW. So in theory on a bright sunny summer day it could send more than 10 kW to the grid.
Click to expand...

Its the amount of storage capacity, not the amount you can send to the grid. So its pushes you over 10k of storage capacity onsite, not pushes you over 10k of capacity to send to the grid.
 
#17
jjrandorin said:
Its the amount of storage capacity, not the amount you can send to the grid. So its pushes you over 10k of storage capacity onsite, not pushes you over 10k of capacity to send to the grid.
Click to expand...

Do you mean amount the PW can send to the grid? Because storage-wise each PWs is 13.5 kWh.

The only think I can figure that goes over 10kW in the 3 versus 2 PWs is the amount you can continuously output from the PWs. Since each PW can output 5kW continuously that is 3 * 5 = 15 continuous, versus 10kW for 2 PWs

Let me know if I am thinking about this incorrectly.
 
#18
jboy210 said:
Do you mean amount the PW can send to the grid? Because storage-wise each PWs is 13.5 kWh.

The only think I can figure that goes over 10kW in the 3 versus 2 PWs is the amount you can continuously output from the PWs. Since each PW can output 5kW continuously that is 3 * 5 = 15 continuous, versus 10kW for 2 PWs

Let me know if I am thinking about this incorrectly.
Click to expand...

Each powerwall is rated as 5k output to the home so 10k (they can burst higher, but are rated as 5k power delivery). Not an expert on this by any means but I remember for rebate purposes and interconnect agreement it was "10k was residential".. and each PW was considered a 5k power device (not storage as I said earlier).
 
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