Tesla cuts Vermont Tesla Energy team completely !

[VTengineer]

I was informed by my local Energy Adviser that included with the Tesla downsizing was the elimination of the team consisting of Office manager, Tech Manager and Energy Advisers who were covering the state of Vermont. No confirmation yet but I am learning that our region will be covered out of Boston.

There were no small number of systems sold, installed and worst yet for those in this boat, systems on order and in design within the state of Vermont. This sincerely seems like a "cutting your nose off . . . ." move on Tesla's part in my opinion. This past winter I learned that although Tesla Energy anticipated that 15% of those purchasing a solar system would want to include a powerwall, the real figure turned out to be around 55%. When we were installing in late March, there was a back order log of some 9000 powerwalls throughout the country.

Our system, am 8.125 kW solar array consisting of 25 panels, a Powerwall 2 and a dedicated 48A car charger was commissioned on 8 April and has been working well ever since. I don't anticipate problems but it would be nice to know I could call for and rely on a local service tech if needed.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

The continued elimination of the traditional sales model at Tesla Energy is a good thing. They're getting super lean across all markets in what I assume is preparation for phase 2 of US residential solar. SunRun is doing the old model at scale, so Tesla pulling back has little impact on overall solar advancement in local markets.

Pretty soon you'll simply buy a bundled car/solar/battery product off the Tesla website after researching it online and in the showroom. The old SolarCity model where the sales side ran the whole organization is done....hopefully. You'll likely see a reboot of local services geared toward efficient scaled installs within a couple years.

On a side note, have you checked to see if there are any state level regulations making it hard to operate in vt? Contact your state rep and tell them you don't like to see solar job losses in VT.

 

[VTengineer]

VT is one of the least restrictive states when it comes to getting a solar installation approved. You file a certificate of public good when applying for application to proceed. It gives public notice of an impending installation. Took one week. As far as commissioning, TE put the net meter hub in as part of their package and informed the local utility GMP that we were ready to operate. GMP came to the house unannounced and installed their meter. One call to Tesla support late that day and we were up and producing kW !

 

[VTengineer]

You'll likely see a reboot of local services geared toward efficient scaled installs within a couple years.

A couple of years in VT is a long time indeed ! You're talking about a rural state with a total population of less than 700.000 people.

 

[JonKohler]

Do you find you get good generation in Vermont with the weather? Also, out of curiosity, what sort of return on investment were you seeing?