Tesla pitches a solar rental program to boost its renewable energy business
Tesla is pitching customers on a new rental offering for solar power as a way to revive the flagging fortunes of its renewable energy business.
Once among the largest installers of renewables in the country through SolarCity, Tesla has seen its share of the market decline significantly since its acquisition of SolarCity three years ago. In the second quarter Tesla deployed only 29 megawatts of new solar installations, while the number one and two providers of consumer solar, SunRun and Vivint Solar installed 103 megawatts and 56 megawatts respectively.
[...] Unlike SunRun and Vivint, which both used partnerships with homebuilders and retailers like Home Depot, BJ's Wholesale, Costco and Sam's Club to acquire customers, Tesla ended door-to-door marketing and abandoned its partnership with Home Depot. The company began relying almost entirely on direct sales to power its solar business and eschewed the no-money-down lease model, which SolarCity had used so effectively.
Under the new system, Telsa is offering customers the option to rent solar systems for anywhere from $65 for a small installation to $195 for its largest installation. Customers only need to pay a fully refundable $100 charge.
Walmart sues Tesla over solar panel fires at seven stores
Walmart is suing Elon Musk's electric vehicle and clean energy company after Tesla solar panels atop seven of the retailer's stores allegedly caught fire, according a court filing.
The Walmart suit alleges breach of contract, gross negligence and failure to live up to industry standards. Walmart is asking Tesla to remove solar panels from more than 240 Walmart locations where they have been installed, and to pay damages related to all the fires Walmart says that Tesla caused.
The Walmart suit, filed in the state of New York, alleges that: "As of November 2018, no fewer than seven Walmart stores had experienced fires due to Tesla's solar systems - including the four fires described above and three others that had occurred earlier." The filing details evacuations, damaged property and inventory.
Also at Reuters.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by legont on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:02AM (5 children)
that may doom most electric... https://phys.org/news/2019-08-scientists-hydrogen-gas-oil-bitumen.html [phys.org]
To summarize, we could get hydrogen out of oil sands enough for the foreseeable future.
Conviniently, China is investing into it https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-12/china-s-father-of-electric-cars-thinks-hydrogen-is-the-future [bloomberg.com] on a scale comparable to the whole NASA budget.
Environment aside, hydrogen is already cheaper than gas for cars. If the news holds true and the price drops 4 times manufactures will scale the production to bring hydrogen cars prices down. If not, China already has models ready for 2020.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by KilroySmith on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:59AM (2 children)
Well, the article is remarkably light on details, but basically injecting O2 into an oil field releases H2. It doesn't say if it releases anything else - but my two-semester college chemistry background suggests that adding O2 to hydrocarbons might also release CO2. As one of the links notes: ""Making hydrogen from hydrocarbons using oxygen is nothing new—the trick is not releasing the CO2 to the atmosphere," said Jeremy Tomkinson, Company Director and CEO at NNFCC The Bioeconomy Consultants. "
We'll see if this isn't just a way to move CO2 production from the car or refinery or natural-gas reformation plant all the way back to the production field...
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday August 21 2019, @10:36PM (1 child)
The article specifically says that CO2 stays in the ground.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by KilroySmith on Thursday August 22 2019, @12:29AM
Without a discussion of the chemistry involved, and a description of where those pesky C atoms end up, I find it difficult to accept their statement.
(Score: 2) by quietus on Wednesday August 21 2019, @07:05PM (1 child)
Texas already beat [mysanantonio.com] you to it.
(Score: 2) by legont on Wednesday August 21 2019, @10:38PM
Beat me? Wow, such a compliment!
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:15AM (1 child)
Is there nothing Musk can't do?
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday August 21 2019, @05:06PM
He can't get Earth to give Mars the three things it will need.
1. A long, continuous, never ending supply chain of vital supplies from Earth
2. Universal Basic Income for all Martians
3. Independence from Earth government
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:17AM (3 children)
Elon Musk has made too much cuddle puddle money at the expense of women everywhere. We should send the money to Boeing instead and throw Elon into the army. That'll straighten him out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:35AM
Let's see now. Elon Musk is an American, Canadian, and South African citizen. None of those countries has an army draft.
We're out of luck, legally. I say we throw Elon into a jet engine. That'll fix him.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:20PM (1 child)
OK. What's this? Or what does it humorously allude to?
-- hendrik
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 22 2019, @02:07AM
Elon Musk denounces 'Silicon Valley sex party' book: 'it's just nerds on a couch' [telegraph.co.uk]
Elon Musk and other guests dispute that a notorious Silicon Valley gathering was a 'sex party' [businessinsider.com]
'Sex party' or 'nerds on a couch'? A night in silicon valley. [wired.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by Coward, Anonymous on Wednesday August 21 2019, @04:05AM
I used to be a trouble maker, but setting fire to seven Walmart stores is something else.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @11:23AM (6 children)
We'll see if Walmart gets any hyperloop tunnel stations anywhere near their stores now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @11:51AM (2 children)
or flamethrowers
(Score: 3, Funny) by etherscythe on Wednesday August 21 2019, @01:01PM
The not-a-flamethrower is where they went wrong. I mean, sure, you want to keep the snow off your solar panels, but I don't think that's an approved use. Your mistake, Wal-Mart!
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday August 21 2019, @05:08PM
Or EV charging stations.
Or BFR launch facilities in the corner parking lot.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by etherscythe on Wednesday August 21 2019, @01:03PM
...or, more practically, if it endangers their order for semi trucks.
https://electrek.co/2018/09/06/tesla-semi-new-order-electric-truck-walmart/ [electrek.co]
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @07:35PM (1 child)
Nope, because hyperloop is impractical garbage anyway.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 22 2019, @12:57AM
Says the non-billionaire pleb.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Wednesday August 21 2019, @03:21PM (3 children)
I'd like to hear the technical aspects of these alleged fires, rather than just the legal, political, and financial aspects.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @06:20PM (1 child)
Ok, well fire is the visible effect of the process of combustion. It occurs between oxygen in the air and some sort of fuel. The heat generated by this reaction is what sustains the fire. The heat of the flame will keep the remaining fuel at ignition temperatures. The flame ignites gases being emitted and the fire spreads. As long as there is enough fuel and oxygen, the fire keeps burning.
Fuel + oxygen (from the air) = combustion products (mainly CO2 + H2O) + heat energy.
You're welcome.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Wednesday August 21 2019, @11:45PM
Nice to get some expertise in here from... you know... that other Green Place.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 21 2019, @08:28PM
Since your asking lead to my looking (and I wanted the details anyway)
Some good info here:
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/after-seven-roof-fires-walmart-sues-tesla-over-solar-panel-flaws/ [arstechnica.com]
and a bunch of pics here:
https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-walmart-roof-tied-to-tesla-solar-panels-lawsuit-2019-8 [businessinsider.com]