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What is the current lead time for Power Wall installation?

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We hear similar issues with potential supply. SUPER frustrating just as we are expanding.
Demand is exploding! I just hope Tesla isn't hogging them all to themselves as some power play to get people to go through Tesla.

Curious what people hear through Tesla when ordering them? Many companies have a 6 month delay just due to work in front of them, but this is way more serious sounding.

Some installers already haven't gotten significant shipments for 6 weeks.
 
We hear similar issues with potential supply. SUPER frustrating just as we are expanding.
Demand is exploding! I just hope Tesla isn't hogging them all to themselves as some power play to get people to go through Tesla.

Curious what people hear through Tesla when ordering them? Many companies have a 6 month delay just due to work in front of them, but this is way more serious sounding.

Some installers already haven't gotten significant shipments for 6 weeks.

Yeah, one small-shop here told me about 2 months ago that Tesla actually blocked them from doing any PW install with more than 1 battery. So while I was getting 3x Powerwall bids from local shops (no SGIP though!), I was being told by other local shops that Tesla was throttling them from getting Powerwalls. Then Tesla did some partnership with Sunrun and that probably just killed the locals.

Tesla partners with US' biggest solar installer to deploy Powerwalls - Electrek

I'd imagine this is all super-frustrating for all parties involved. Tesla is great at creating lots of hype though!
 
Yeah, one small-shop here told me about 2 months ago that Tesla actually blocked them from doing any PW install with more than 1 battery. So while I was getting 3x Powerwall bids from local shops (no SGIP though!), I was being told by other local shops that Tesla was throttling them from getting Powerwalls. Then Tesla did some partnership with Sunrun and that probably just killed the locals.

Tesla partners with US' biggest solar installer to deploy Powerwalls - Electrek

I'd imagine this is all super-frustrating for all parties involved. Tesla is great at creating lots of hype though!

I still want to hear from Tesla Energy customers today. If they are in the same boat then fine, but if Tesla Energy is happily tooling along installing PW over the next 2 months and selling to Sunrun, and telling other installers to wait months that is disappointing. If TE is still dropping PW on walls in California all Summer it will be pretty clear this is where Tesla stands.

Not surprising in the end, most big box companies put the majority of the smaller guys out of business eventually.
 
I still want to hear from Tesla Energy customers today. If they are in the same boat then fine, but if Tesla Energy is happily tooling along installing PW over the next 2 months and selling to Sunrun, and telling other installers to wait months that is disappointing. If TE is still dropping PW on walls in California all Summer it will be pretty clear this is where Tesla stands.

Not surprising in the end, most big box companies put the majority of the smaller guys out of business eventually.

Did your shop investigate the Enphase Encharge 10 batteries with Enpower gateway? I guess you wouldn't be on TMC if you were an Enphase convert haha. But their battery system seems the closest to what the Powerwall + Gateway offer since it supports partial home backups and each Encharge 10 is about the capacity of a Powerwall. Unfortunately I couldn't find a local installer that had it, so it was Tesla or bust.

Generac and LG Chem didn't seem to have partial home backup solutions without hiring an electrician to set up wacky stuff.
 
We have investigated other systems and the Enphase is the best of them. Its the training, both in sales and ops that prevents us adopting many types of systems. plus parts, monitoring and service is more complicated. We have installed and designed many battery backups over the years. In he past they are sort of each one is unique. Sometimes Outbacks, sometimes Sunny Islands with some specific relays to ensure they function the way we wanted.

I'm actually watching the second one come out soon, as its about 12 years old. Getting replaced with 5 Powerwalls, and another 48 panels. Its crazy what it took 10-15 years ago to make a 40 kWh system.

AC coupled does lose some efficiency compared with DC coupled but it is nice how easy and scaleable it is. We also installed the early PW1 when it was DC coupled to a SE7600. That also had its own challenges.

In the same time the DC powerwalls came out, we also installed Sonnen once, and Juicebox a couple times. Neither as nice as the Powerwalls at all.

Tesla PW 2 with GW 2 is clearly the best and has the brand name prestige. Now just keep sending us product to make happy Tesla fans!
 
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Did your shop investigate the Enphase Encharge 10 batteries with Enpower gateway? I guess you wouldn't be on TMC if you were an Enphase convert haha. But their battery system seems the closest to what the Powerwall + Gateway offer since it supports partial home backups and each Encharge 10 is about the capacity of a Powerwall. Unfortunately I couldn't find a local installer that had it, so it was Tesla or bust.

Generac and LG Chem didn't seem to have partial home backup solutions without hiring an electrician to set up wacky stuff.
Funny you mention Enphase. I had 2 PW's spec'd in my independent (non Tesla) solar installer, and heard from them yesterday that PW's are on back order until maybe January or February next year!

SO.... I asked them to redesign with "other battery systems", and they came back with the Enphase battery + inverter + gateway. I really do like this architecture (DC from panels to DC batteries, that input DC to the inverter which then produces AC).

Powerwall does DC->AC-DC-AC and that's not a terrible architecture (there are good reasons to have AC be the common denominator) there are also good reasons to have DC be common.

I didn't seriously consider anything but powerwalls until now. Glad I investigated the SolarEdge components as they work better for me (installing all components (panels, inverters, batteries) in a utility barn at the back of my property). My use case seems a better fit for Enphase than PowerWalls.
 
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Funny you mention Enphase. I had 2 PW's spec'd in my independent (non Tesla) solar installer, and heard from them yesterday that PW's are on back order until maybe January or February next year!

SO.... I asked them to redesign with "other battery systems", and they came back with the Enphase battery + inverter + gateway. I really do like this architecture (DC from panels to DC batteries, that input DC to the inverter which then produces AC).

Powerwall does DC->AC-DC-AC and that's not a terrible architecture (there are good reasons to have AC be the common denominator) there are also good reasons to have DC be common.

I didn't seriously consider anything but powerwalls until now. Glad I investigated the SolarEdge components as they work better for me (installing all components (panels, inverters, batteries) in a utility barn at the back of my property). My use case seems a better fit for Enphase than PowerWalls.


Sweet hopefully you'll have some feedback about PW alternatives since a lot of people are clamoring to squeeze in stuff this year while the Federal Tax Incentive is 26%.

But I'm confused, are you saying SolarEdge's battery could be a better in your use case than Enphase's which could be better than the Tesla PW2 since there is no AC/DC funny business?
 
I still want to hear from Tesla Energy customers today. If they are in the same boat then fine, but if Tesla Energy is happily tooling along installing PW over the next 2 months and selling to Sunrun, and telling other installers to wait months that is disappointing. If TE is still dropping PW on walls in California all Summer it will be pretty clear this is where Tesla stands.

Not surprising in the end, most big box companies put the majority of the smaller guys out of business eventually.

I ordered a 4th powerwall for my setup in early February. It was finally installed in July.

I don't think Tesla is hogging them all for themselves.
 
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So if we went through a third party installer for PV and Powerwalls, we have two, but wanted to add more Powerwalls, who would be the best to go through?

We didn't have a great experience with our installer, and would like to avoid them.

Could I just give Tesla a call and they would do the job?
 
Tesla would certainly install them for you (just go to tesla.com and select “powerwall”). There are also third party installers who are authorized to install powerwalls as well. I’d see what tesla wants to charge and then maybe get a quote or two from other installers and see who you like best.
 
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Sweet hopefully you'll have some feedback about PW alternatives since a lot of people are clamoring to squeeze in stuff this year while the Federal Tax Incentive is 26%.

But I'm confused, are you saying SolarEdge's battery could be a better in your use case than Enphase's which could be better than the Tesla PW2 since there is no AC/DC funny business?
From a pure engineering efficiency viewpoint, staying DC-DC all the way to the load inverter should be more efficient (e.g. DC from solar into a DC battery storage then inverted to AC to drive the loads) is claimed by SolarEdge to be 90.8% efficient vs 88.8% "ac coupled". (SE says these comparisons are between the LG-CHEM battery/SolarEdge Inverter vs. Powerwall 2 w SolarEdge Inverter)
 
From a pure engineering efficiency viewpoint, staying DC-DC all the way to the load inverter should be more efficient (e.g. DC from solar into a DC battery storage then inverted to AC to drive the loads) is claimed by SolarEdge to be 90.8% efficient vs 88.8% "ac coupled". (SE says these comparisons are between the LG-CHEM battery/SolarEdge Inverter vs. Powerwall 2 w SolarEdge Inverter)


Lol gotcha- you brought up getting a quote with enphase then brought up solar edge so I got mixed up.
 
my bad! Yes I'm talking the SolarEdge solution (that's the DC system that only inverts to AC prior to supplying load.


Lol anyway what I was saying about Enphase is their battery system is AC and most closely mimics what a Tesla Powerwall and Gateway system would provide for a homeowner... so it could be worth investigating if the Powerwalls get back ordered into 2021.

I kind of want to see what you're doing in your garage that benefits from having DC storage and access to DC instead of AC. Did you find a way to charge your Tesla directly with DC or something?
 
Lol anyway what I was saying about Enphase is their battery system is AC and most closely mimics what a Tesla Powerwall and Gateway system would provide for a homeowner... so it could be worth investigating if the Powerwalls get back ordered into 2021.

I kind of want to see what you're doing in your garage that benefits from having DC storage and access to DC instead of AC. Did you find a way to charge your Tesla directly with DC or something?
No, really this is “inside baseball” stuff. It is the difference in architecture of the battery system primarily. My house only sees 240V AC, same as Powerwalls.
 
I just took a look at the new Enphase battery systems. It looks like "RAIB" to me. Redundant Array of Inexpensive Batteries. They used to sell these little blocks (IQ Battery) with a micro-inverter and 1.2kWh battery that had to be individually wall mounted. Now it looks like they are bigger blocks with the same micro-inverter and batteries inside one larger enclosure of either 3.4kWh total or 10.1kWh total.

Ok. Wow. It's even funnier than that. The larger Encharge 10 is literally 3 Encharge 3 units with an interconnection kit and a cover to make it look like one unit. That whole stack is only 3.84kVA output.
 
We have had two Powerall's on order thru an independent (not Tesla) installer for three weeks. Today the installer tell ms that Tesla says ""We received a message from Tesla that Powerwall 2 batteries and equipment is backlogged until at least January 2021, and possibly longer due to a surge in demand and due to lower production as a result of COVID-19. Tesla has begun building another manufacturing line in its Nevada Gigafactory to increase production, which will help increase Tesla's ability to fulfill existing orders and future demand."

Any ideas? I am hesitant to commit to PWs if they have a 6 month lead time.....
I just received a similar notice from my installer yesterday. Started a thread specific to this.