Tesla has stopped taking orders for Powerwall, its home battery pack, if it is not linked to a new solar panel project.
We know that the demand for Tesla’s Powerwall has been through the roof.
Wait times have been increasing despite Tesla’s best effort to increase production, and the company even increased the price of the battery pack twice in just a few months.
One of the fastest ways to get a Powerwall has been to order it as part of a Tesla solar project, either solar roof or solar panel installation.
Even then Tesla would sometimes install the Powerwall after the solar installation, but customers have been reporting better access than if ordering it alone for an existing solar installation or for backup power.
Now we have learned that Tesla has stopped taking orders of the Powerwall without a solar installation altogether.
We received a tip that it might be the case and verified it through Tesla’s website.
Earlier this month, Tesla updated its website so that the Powerwall configurator redirects to Tesla’s solar panel configurator and added the mention:
“Powerwall is only available with purchase of solar panels.”
Here’s a screenshot of the configurator:
Note that this is for the US market, and the company could potentially have different offers in other markets where it does not offer solar panel installations.
Last year, Tesla announced that it installed its 100,000th Powerwall home battery pack.
Around the same time, CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla is working hard on increasing Powerwall production as delivery delays are getting longer in many markets.
Tesla Powerwall has been dominating the home battery pack market based on industry surveys.
On top of selling the product itself, Tesla has also partnered with other solar companies to install the home battery pack, including industry giants like Sunrun.
The company is also seeing a lot of demand from virtual power plants (VPP).
For example, the Powerwall is going to be used in up to 6,000 homes in a new VPP project in Hawaii.
Between all these different sales channels, Tesla has been having issues keeping up with demand when it comes to the Powerwall.
On top of it, recent events, such as the rolling blackouts in Texas, have been bringing more attention to home battery packs as people are looking to rely less on the grid.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
