Tesla will not upgrade its own systems

[brockm]

So I basically spent a whopping $50,000 on a 6.5kWh (with a 7 kWh inverter) + 3 Tesla Powerwall 2s late last year. Since then, I significantly increased my power usage with the addition of a second Tesla car and a new hot tub. Now my system is undersized for my needs. When they sold me the system, they told me I could add additional panels in the future if my needs increased. So I called Tesla Energy today, and they told me with their new restructuring, they've discontinued support for upgrading existing systems, and can only sell me a second system or a replacement for my existing system. But they will not under any circumstances add panels to the existing system.

So I called around to other solar companies, and they've all told me they won't touch Tesla solar systems, and likewise would need to replace the Tesla solar panels with their own if I wanted a larger system.

I'm pretty miffed by this, especially since it was so important to me that I could increase capacity in the future, and Tesla's sales assured me this was possible. Now they're saying on S.O.L. and everyone else is telling me the same thing.

Not sure what to do. But this is important information for anyone considering Tesla Solar. What you order is what you'll have forever, unless you want a whole brand new system, with a new inverter and everything.

 

[SureValla]

will a second company add their own panels and new inverters?

 

[brockm]

Yeah. But I don't want to do that. That means running brand new electrical lines to my roof and trenching new lines to another structure on my property and a mere cost of thousands if not $10,000 because of the re-landscaping I'd have to do.

 

[brockm]

It's angering that I would have to submit myself to those costs, when it would be technically feasible to daisy-chain two or three new panels onto the existing system and it would work fine as a slightly oversized system for the inverter.

 

[Cycle11111]

I would get them on the phone again and explain that the tweet storm generically and direct to Elon on Twitter will be commencing unless they address this as originally promised - also make sure you escalate within Tesla Energy. I had a friend that had an issue with a heavily used CPO Model S when he was promised a lightly touched test drive car and he had that addressed by pointing out that this is not what was promised and that tweets about Tesla and to Elon would commence in 48 hours if not addressed

 

[MorrisonHiker]

When we had our system installed last year, it was as large as our utility would allow. We knew we'd need more. When we mentioned it to the installers, they mentioned that anything we add would be a new system, so we expect they will add another inverter if we add more panels. We have to wait until September (for a year's worth of usage data) before we can start the process of adding panels.

If you can't add them directly to your house, could you buy panels from a community solar farm? Yes, they won't be able to help you in an outage but they will be able to offset you electricity usage, perhaps even better than your existing panels.

I'll post back here once we contact Tesla.

 

[brockm]

It's not true that you need to upgrade your inverter if you oversize the panels. You can have 8kW of solar and a 5kW inverter. In practice what happens, is you'll be producing at 5kW max for a longer part of the day (earlier in the morning and longer into the afternoon). You lose the benefit of that extra 3kW when the sun is high enough in the sky. But you still produce more power when the sun is lower in the sky. So this is what I want to do. I have a 7kW inverter. In practice, production peaks around 6kW. So I want to say, add 2 to 3kW more of production capacity, which will top-out the inverter mid-day, but still add substantially more energy production in the early morning and late afternoon.

 

[Dan123]

It's angering that I would have to submit myself to those costs, when it would be technically feasible to daisy-chain two or three new panels onto the existing system and it would work fine as a slightly oversized system for the inverter.

Can you try to find a smaller installer, who would be willing to do this? Larger companies don't want to mess with it for liability reasons, and it is too small of a job. But smaller installers might not care.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Can you try to find a smaller installer, who would be willing to do this? Larger companies don't want to mess with it for liability reasons, and it is too small of a job. But smaller installers might not care.

I'm sure he could find a smaller installer who would add some panels but doing so will void the warranty on the existing system.

 

[brockm]

Yeah. Given this bait and switch by Tesla, I would highly recommend against Tesla as the solar provider. I love the Powerwalls. But had I known this would happen, I would have gone with Powerwalls from Tesla, but gone with third-party solar.

 

[Bet TSLA]

Not sure what to do.

As you are no doubt aware, Tesla reps often have wrong information. Tesla's internal communications seem to be just as awful as their external. So wait a bit and ask again. Likely enough you'll get a different answer.

 

[ewoodrick]

While it is lousy what's happening here, there may be a little reality that needs to kick in. Was your car plugged into the PowerWall when installed? With 6.5 kWh of storage, that's only about 20 miles of charging. I suspect that the cars aren't using the Supercharger, so they really don't matter. The hot tub indeed would be an extra load.

 

[brockm]

There’s no reality that needs to set in. I’m an engineer and I fully understand the dynamics at play. My goal is to fully offset my electricity *costs*. Not be completely off-grid. My cars charge at night using PG&E’s off-peak EV rate of 2.8c/kWh and offset the car charging costs with my daily overproduction. Not to mention, PowerWalls can’t provide enough amperage to charge a Tesla unless you crank down the charging rate.

Also, I have 3 PowerWall2s, which have 13.5kWh of storage each, for a grand total of 40.5kWh of energy storage in my installation. 1/3 of which I reserve for backup only.

 

[Ampster]

My cars charge at night using PG&E’s off-peak EV rate of 2.8c/kWh and offset the car charging costs with my daily overproduction.

What rate plan do you have from PG&E that is at $0.028 per kWh for off peak?

 

[vinny84]

I have the same problem with Sunrun. Installed 6.5kwh system in 2016 and now they don’t want to add additional panels. They want to sell a new system instead. My system is leased. I ordered Tesla system and they refused to install new system since I don’t own my current system.

Sucks!

 

[boaterva]

Going to have the same issue here. When we installed the current system (see sig), we didn't yet own cars (see sig, lol). The previous year's bills they used had no EV usage and I said I would want a recalc a year from original to expand. I was told even then (a year ago) that it would be a completely new system to be added.

That has been even more messy because in the last year I've been down for months waiting for Tesla to fix things. Each solar visit is 60 days. The last one was changed to two weeks when I called Solar Edge and they diagnosed a dead inverter and Tesla came up with a 'new' policy (who knows) for an immediate replacement. Perhaps the schedule has changed for some error codes, but if you need a complete error-free year to even begin the process, that's another issue.

Then, yeah, looks like a separate system, not add some panels and replace the inverter even when you DO own the whole thing.

 

[Ampster]

Does the other structure on your property have a sub panel?

 

[CCIE]

I'm sure he could find a smaller installer who would add some panels but doing so will void the warranty on the existing system.

Tesla often uses proprietary Zep zero-rail mounts that aren't readily available to the public anymore (SolarCity bought Zep Solar). Plus you would need the same exact panels if you want things to match aesthetically. So, it's hard for anyone else to add panels to an existing SolarCity/Tesla system.

 

[brockm]

For me, aesthetics don’t matter, because my house is three stories, and the south facing roof is in my backyard (you literally can’t see the panels from the back yard—because they’re three stories up!). The additional panels on top of my pool house are likewise not visible since the pool house has a flat roof. So Adding panels that look different makes no difference to me.

The north-front orientation of my house means I luckily have the panels completely out of all sight lines. You literally would not know my house was solar if I didn’t tell you, and you didn’t happen across the electrical conduit on the side my house that has a red “Photovoltaic Power” sticker on it.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

For me, aesthetics don’t matter, because my house is three stories, and the south facing roof is in my backyard (you literally can’t see the panels from the back yard—because they’re three stories up!). The additional panels on top of my pool house are likewise not visible since the pool house has a flat roof. So Adding panels that look different makes no difference to me.

The north-front orientation of my house means I luckily have the panels completely out of all sight lines. You literally would not know my house was solar if I didn’t tell you, and you didn’t happen across the electrical conduit on the side my house that has a red “Photovoltaic Power” sticker on it.

Do you know if the pool house has a torch down roof? Is that where you want the new panels installed (or are there already some installed there)?