Tesla Begins Winding Down Solar Installation Business

Tesla purchased SolarCity, a large solar and backup installer, back in 2016 and shortly thereafter began installing its unique Tesla Solar Roof, regular Tesla Solar panels, and Tesla Powerwalls for both commercial and residential customers.

However, as the years have passed, Tesla has lost its interest in the actual installation portion of the business. They’re more than happy to continue producing Solar Roofs and expanding Powerwall production, but for the most part, their in-house rate of installations has slowed drastically.

Since Q2 2020, Tesla has seen a 10% or greater drop per quarter in the number of in-house Solar Roof, Solar, and Powerwall installations every quarter.

Third-Party Certification

Tesla has instead begun to certify third-party installers throughout North America and Europe for Powerwall and solar panels and within the United States for Solar Roof.

Tesla launched the Certified Installer Program in 2020 and said it has approximately 2,000 certified installers in over 14 countries—and those certified installers have set up over 1 million installations. James Bickford, Tesla’s Director of Global Sales, Residential Energy Products, announced the expansion of the Certified Installer Program and its new push on LinkedIn.

The Certified Installer Program provides several things to get third parties ready to install and commission Tesla’s home energy ecosystem, including virtual and in-person training, on-site training, custom installation tools, and the Tesla One Software Platform.

In addition to those supports, Tesla’s Partner Platform offers marketing support resources and a dedicated access system for a personal Account Manager from Tesla.

Tesla One Dashboard

The Tesla One dashboard offers third-party installers a one-stop-shop platform for managing quotes, installations, and repairs in one mobile app.

It is a convenient-looking application that lets third-party installers see what tasks they need to perform for specific installations and also helps them scale particular installations to customer requirements.

While this isn’t a new direction for Tesla overall, we’re seeing a distinct move in the energy business from Tesla as a first-party installer of its products to a more hands-off approach where local electricians and contractors will install Tesla products under its auspices.

We’re interested to see where Tesla continues to go with this, as they’ve seen their Powerwall business expanding in the last few years, while Tesla Solar and Solar Roof have dropped off many people’s radars lately.

Tesla has sent out its first batch of event invites to its “We, Robot” event – the Robotaxi Event. Invitees must confirm their attendance no later than midnight on Sunday, October 6^th.

In order for a chance to get an invite – Shareholders had to confirm their shares and participate in a raffle. The selected winners started receiving emails last night.

It seems that space for the event is extremely limited and that tickets will be issued on a first-come first-serve basis. We’re not sure if Tesla intends to add another wave of invites at this point, but we’ll keep an eye out.

Event Details

Event details haven’t been issued just yet, but once invitees confirm their RSVP, they will receive another email with the next steps and exact event details. The tickets remain non-transferable, and unlike other Tesla events, not everyone is receiving a +1. It appears some invites let you add on a guest, while others are just for the invitee. The event is for those aged 21+, and IDs will be checked upon arrival.

In terms of timing, the doors open at 5 PM local, and check-in begins around 5:30 PM. The remarks for the event will begin around 7 PM.

Those who have received invites have confirmed that “RSVP Received” is displayed on the Tesla Investor Relations site after clicking through. It seems that the actual tickets themselves will come as a separate e-mail.

We’re super excited to see what Tesla will reveal – this event is one of their most anticipated, and we expect to see the Robotaxi driving around on Hollywood set stages as part of the demo.

For the latest Robotaxi news, be sure to check out our Robotaxi news section, that features stories such as the recent camouflaged robotaxi and more.

Tesla has launched a new Wireless Portable Charger in its North America store. It seems to be a big improvement over the old Wireless Charging Pad 2.0, and is currently available in both the United States for $95 USD, and Canada for $130 CAD.

It will likely arrive soon for other regions once there’s enough stock availability.

Wireless Portable Charger

Unlike the older Wireless Charging Pad 2.0, the new Wireless Portable Charger is available in three colors, Black, Rose Gold, and White. But just like the old one – it’s the perfect size for the wireless phone charger in your Tesla, letting you charge it wirelessly too.

It features a 5000mAH battery and is able to charge two Qi-enabled devices at once, including watches and earbuds, rather than only phones. It’s not the fastest wireless charger at only 5V/3A max, but it includes a fairly big battery – larger than both Apple and Samsung’s current flagship devices. It also has an integrated USB-C charging cable that neatly tucks into its body, enabling you to charge on the go as needed or to quickly charge the battery via USB-C.

The Wireless Portable Charger has a hinged design, which means you can stand up your devices while they’re charging – and since it’s magnetic, devices that support magnet wireless charging will comfortably stick to the Wireless Portable Charger.

It also has a neat little LED indicator on the side to display state of charge, while the interior and bottom are finished with Alcantara suede, preventing it from sliding around.

It’s all in a neat little package, so if you’re interested in purchasing it, head on over to the Tesla Store.