Walmart Sues Tesla After Seven Solar Rooftop Fires

Walmart is suing Tesla after solar panels at seven stores allegedly caught fire, according to a court filing.

Walmart also claims Tesla “routinely deployed individuals to inspect the solar systems who lacked basic solar training and knowledge.”

“Tesla’s personnel did not know, for example, how to conduct inspections or how to use simple tools, such as temperature-measuring ‘guns’ used to detect hotspots, and a Tesla employee failed to identify multiple hotspots that Walmart’s consultants observed,” the suit said.

Walmart wants Tesla to remove solar panels at all 240 stores where they are installed and to pay damages caused by the fires. The suit alleges breach of contract, gross negligence and failure to live up to industry standards.

“On information and belief, when Tesla purchased SolarCity to bail out the flailing company (whose executives included two of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s first cousins), Tesla failed to correct SolarCity’s chaotic installation practices or to adopt adequate maintenance protocols, which would have been particularly important in light of the improper installation practices,” the suit said.

The news comes shortly after Tesla announced an attempt to boost its solar energy business by offering solar rentals for residential customers for as little as $50 a month.

See the full filing here.

Image: Flickr

 

[miimura]

Found this via twitter. I am not surprised the Deceitful Media has ignored it.

https://www.wholemars.com/TeslaResponse.pdf

I read that entire response and I have concluded that Walmart simply doesn't like the fact that solar installed today is much cheaper than the solar that they contracted for in 2010-2017. They want it removed so that they can enter into newer and cheaper solar installations without compensating Tesla for the equipment that was already deployed.

I'm not saying that there are or were no defects in the installations, but from Tesla's perspective Walmart is only interested in contractual relief (lower prices) and not ensuring the safety of the existing systems under the terms of the existing agreements.

 

[vickh]

There is no BK risk. They are now backed by Tesla and mature later this year.

I wouldn't say NO BK risk. It's Tesla's BK risk now. Bonds were supposed to be low risk, but in todays low interest rate environment (thanks Fed) people are chasing yields etc..

 

[vickh]

I read that entire response and I have concluded that Walmart simply doesn't like the fact that solar installed today is much cheaper than the solar that they contracted for in 2010-2017. They want it removed so that they can enter into newer and cheaper solar installations without compensating Tesla for the equipment that was already deployed.

I'm not saying that there are or were no defects in the installations, but from Tesla's perspective Walmart is only interested in contractual relief (lower prices) and not ensuring the safety of the existing systems under the terms of the existing agreements.

so buyer's price remorse for early adopters (sounds familiar). This is why I'm about to rent these panels instead. Per my reading Tesla takes the price risk

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Out here in Arizona we call them Solar Shitty. If I have to list a house with a Solar City lease, I roll my eyes because they are the worst leases in the business that gauge the consumer. Try convincing a buyer to assume a shitty lease. This company has cost sellers many tens of thousands of dollars in resale value, not to mention the money they are making on the crappy leases that benefit only themselves.

Tesla is being sued (class action) for unlawfully removing (capping) range in older vehicles via software update 2019.16.1. Now Tesla is being sued by one of America's largest corporations for what is obviously malpractice. Walmart would not sue Tesla if they did not feel there was cause. Tesla is NOT doing right by its customers and is getting sued left and right as a result.

This type of behavior tends to ruin a company's reputation. I must admit, Tesla's antics of late give me great pause when thinking of buying another Tesla. If you asked me 4 years ago, I would have said all of my future vehicles will be Teslas. I can't say that today and I know I'm not the only one.

 

[vickh]

Out here in Arizona we call them Solar Shitty. If I have to list a house with a Solar City lease, I roll my eyes because they are the worst leases in the business that gauge the consumer. Try convincing a buyer to assume a shitty lease. This company has cost sellers many tens of thousands of dollars in resale value, not to mention the money they are making on the crappy leases that benefit only themselves.
.

I guess it's too new for you to get that listing, but I do agree with you with solar leases in general. Would you say resale value would be affected by this new deal Tesla now RENTS solar panels

Short version is they'll take em off for $1500 or just stop paying and they'll keep power.

 

[NinjaVece]

Walmart is evil. They abuse their employees and pay them so little they qualify for food stamps, and they force suppliers to sell so low they have to abuse their employees.

But based on some of the comments above from people who had bad experiences with Solar City, I feel lucky: I would absolutely have used Tesla for my installation, but they don't operate here on Maui, so I used a local installer who was recommended by my realtor. The realtor did such great work for me that I trust her completely. The guy she recommended did great work, and when I did have an issue he came right over and took care of it.

I'm predisposed to favor Solar City because of my respect for Elon Musk. I own a good-size chunk of solar bonds from Solar City (now Tesla).[/QUO

Nothing. Bad press and legal action doesn't force anyone to do something they are not logically nor legally required to do. It's trivial to call out the incorrect aggressor and deflect their attack, hurting the attacker more than the defendant. You're probably too used to wimpy push over execs like every POTUS except Trump, or equivalent push over CEOs. The only execs that would be that weak are non-engineer execs tied into too much, such as globalist execs and many-board directors or chain CEOs that hop company to company who have a lot of secrets they don't want revealed or reputations built on hot air.

Using Trump as your example is your undoing. Trump is simply a sociopath that has no shame. Being the 'bad boy' that follows no rules only is interesting for awhile and then we realize why we had those rules. This is why Trump has never held majority approval.

 

[Ostrichsak]

Can we stop injecting Obama and Trump into EVERY DAMN CONVERSATION!?

Get over it.

 

[daniel]

how much do the bonds pay? hope a lot for the BK risk..

I will use them, for $50 mo it's worth the risk and I hope those bonds cover roof damage etc if things do go wrong

The bonds I have are 10-year bonds paying 5% and maturing in 2025. They are senior unsecured bonds and are not negotiable. I cannot sell them or redeem them before maturity. Since Tesla took over Solar City, Tesla is the responsible party. My only security is Tesla's good faith.

It has turned out that Solar City's business model (install solar at no cost to the homeowner; SC owns the installation and sells the electricity back to the homeowner) was flawed because third-party ownership of the panels complicates the sale of the property. But at the time I bought the bonds it seemed like a great idea: My investment resulted in the installation of additional solar and paid me a competitive rate. People who could not afford the investment got solar. Seemed like a win-win.

There is risk, but I judge the risk to be minimal. If Tesla goes bust, I lose my money. If Tesla defaults on the bonds, I lose my money. But I don't think either of those things will happen. When you make the best cars on the market today, I think six more years of paying your debts is not a problem. I'd have bought some more Tesla bonds, if the coupon was good, but I have not seen anything I could get through my brokerage. (CAVEAT: Don't put more than a very few of your eggs in any one basket. My combined Solar Bonds and TSLA is a very small part of my total investments.) So far, I'm happy with these bonds. They seem to have stopped issuing them a long time ago.

 

[hill]

i wonder why it had to come to lawsuits... usually companies will try to work this stuff out privately..

if you had a windshield with ghost images w/ no remedy? .... if you had half shats that shake the crowns of your teeth? ... if you have a yellow border around your display? etc? ... and tried to get Tesla to do the right thing? Maybe then you'd get it.
.

 

[Silicon Desert]

So basically a very flawed inverter. I can kinda see that and as you mention it's going to be exceedingly rare. But I don't see how an improper install could really lead to this unless they series'd two strings that were supposed to be in parallel or something equally as crazy...

agree. A new install should not have an issue unless they screwed up something badly. On 2 of the inverter failures I reviewed which caused some big issues with home equipment, they were flawed, they just failed after 14 years and 16 years.

 

[qdeathstar]

if you had a windshield with ghost images w/ no remedy? .... if you had half shats that shake the crowns of your teeth? ... if you have a yellow border around your display? etc? ... and tried to get Tesla to do the right thing? Maybe then you'd get it.
.

Or people could get over minor defects and accept that tesla is a growing company that has a vision for the future.


/s



You would think the people running tesla would know the bad press from something associated with them spontaneously combusting would cost them more than scraping 170 installations of solar panels...

 

[brian954]

Skimmed through the posts so far and didn’t see this posted yet. Found this on reddit by a user posting with a throwaway account named whistle blower. He mentioned the cause of the fires 7 months ago due to faulty connectors:

SolarCity shutdown my system, apparently a widespread wiring issue : SolarCity

 

[dark cloud]

More to this story than the title states, and post #57 alludes to this. Smells like politics...

What's The Real Reason Walmart Is Suing Tesla? | CleanTechnica

 

[Cosmacelf]

Tesla and Walmart are now working towards resolving issues and re-energizing all 240 systems.

https://electrek.co/2019/08/23/tesla-walmart-energize-solar-systems-avoid-removing-them/

 

[bhzmark]

Tesla and Walmart are now working towards resolving issues and re-energizing all 240 systems.

Tesla and Walmart are looking to re-energize 240+ solar systems and avoid removing them - Electrek

Fred's inability to do proper journalism and his constant ignorant editorializing makes his blog unreadable on topics like this.

 

[qdeathstar]

so buyer's price remorse for early adopters (sounds familiar). This is why I'm about to rent these panels instead. Per my reading Tesla takes the price risk

Hope they expand the rental program...

 

[vickh]

and now it's amazon Tesla's solar panels reportedly caught fire at an Amazon warehouse