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Will Tesla Install Home Solar Panels To Charge Cars? (buffalonews.com)
Earlier this week, Tesla signed a non-binding agreement to buy solar cells from a new Panasonic factory in Buffalo, New York -- but it's part of a much bigger maneuver. An anonymous Slashdot reader writes:
"If all goes to plan, Tesla will be supplying customers with the solar panels that generate electricity that could then be used to charge the battery in their Tesla car or the battery in the Tesla Powerwall home energy storage system," reports the Christian Science Monitor. The Wall Street Journal reports that Musk's SolarCity "will sell, finance and install the panels."
But the Buffalo News suggests the deal is really "aimed squarely at skeptical shareholders" who may be leary of a proposed merger between Tesla and SolarCity," which one analyst calculates will require nearly $6 billion in extra capital. Panasonic could help shoulder the costs of the Buffalo factory, while also putting a more experienced manufacturer in charge of producing high-efficiency solar modules.
The Stack reports some shareholders have actually filed a lawsuit against the merger.
But the Buffalo News suggests the deal is really "aimed squarely at skeptical shareholders" who may be leary of a proposed merger between Tesla and SolarCity," which one analyst calculates will require nearly $6 billion in extra capital. Panasonic could help shoulder the costs of the Buffalo factory, while also putting a more experienced manufacturer in charge of producing high-efficiency solar modules.
The Stack reports some shareholders have actually filed a lawsuit against the merger.
This is a great move but I don't understand why Tesla built its huge battery factory in Nevada, after the wholly-owned utility commission basically killed home solar in Nevada with fees paid to the power companies. Surely that factory could have been used as leverage.
Right, Tesla's popular cars and SpaceX's rockets that supply the ISS are just paper... Exactly like Theranos' semi-fictional "wonder-machine"...
And what is all this about public money? Tesla is actually the only American car company that has repaid all their government loans, with interest.
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Sure, you could charge a powerwall and then charge your Tesla at night from that, but there would be a lot of inefficiency in addition to heavy cycling on the powerwall.
But overall it doesn't seem like a compelling sales pitch -- buy solar panels to charge the car that will be at work when the sun is shining.
Maybe the spreadsheet math works financially by offsetting daytime use vs. nighttime charging.
And I don't have to buy them from Tesla â" there are plenty of other sellers out there.
Yeah, but if you have a Tesla roof, Powerwall, and Model 3, then it'll handle the credits for you among the reverse net metering, the panel, and your charge-ups at the SuperChargers.
If you put ten Teslets in at home yesterday, you can take ten Teslets out at the SuperCharger today.
Solar City, on its own, had to make up all of the finance costs from net-metering only. As part of Tesla, they can give you flexibility on how to handle the charges. If you consume way more than your production in your cars, and go past the finance costs for your roof, then they can charge that difference to your credit card. But before that, it's much more economically efficient to keep all the charges in-system.
If you have a non-integrated stack then you can do all the same things, but it's necessarily going to cost more because of transaction costs.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
What's the point of this?
Most people who charge at home, charge at night. So, without storage, solar panels don't help.
But it's not "some storage", it's lots of storage. The largest residential Powerwall is 10kWh, so you would need 2 1/2 of these to fully charge a Leaf. A Tesla with the smallest 60 kWh battery would require 10 of them.
If you charge every night and drive an average commute (30-40 miles/day), then I suppose one Powerwall would be sufficient.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
if investor want to waste it and lose money, let them.
I bought shares at ~$30 in 2011, sold recently at ~$200, which according to you is "waste and losing money". Whatever dude.
The key word there is 'almost'. Almost all startups fail in the end. People try things out and when they don't succeed, they are put out of business. The IP they create in the meantime is passed on to more capable people to continue trying with.
So let's roll in the emissions cost of the factories that manufacture regular cars, and the emissions of the trucks taking them to the dealerships, and all the emissions of the dealerships themselves, and the cost of dealing with the runoff from their massive parking lots (borne by the municipalities that host them), et cetera, et cetera.
They promised a zero emissions car and they delivered it. You can't make so much as a paperclip that's "zero emission" if you're going to count the upstream costs.
So basically, fuck off.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Solar City, on its own, had to make up all of the finance costs from net-metering only. As part of Tesla, they can give you flexibility on how to handle the charges.
They could have done all this with a cross-marketing deal. They didn't have to merge just to cross-sell power credits.
You mean the company that is outselling BMW and Mercedes in the luxury car market? That niche company?
The company whose arguably mid-size luxury sedan is outselling BMW's and Mercedes' large luxury sedans, yes.
Except environmentalists have forced destruction of many hydroelectric installations because of the 'damage it does to the rivers.'