Tesla’s powerwall battery pack has been in high demand among consumers. Be it for a Solar setup or just for backup, People have been countlessly ordering the battery pack. The demand became so high that Tesla was lacking in production to fulfill consumer demands. Tesla also tried to increase its price, twice in one month, still, the orders remained the same.
Recently, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla tweeted that Tesla’s Solar Roof and Solar panels along with the Powerwall battery pack will be sold as one bundle. Any items will not be sold separately. This means that either get both or get none. On Tesla’s website, it is clear that if buyers want to order the highly demanded battery pack, they should get a Solar panel too.
Customers have reported that Tesla’s powerwall supply has been slow, though a quick fix to this was to order Tesla’s Solar panels. Consumers also said that Tesla would install their Solar panels but still delay in getting the battery pack installed, but it was still faster to get access to powerwall this way rather than ordering it alone.
Electrek, a website dedicated to updates regarding Tesla and other electrical projects recently announced that Tesla has increased their prices by almost 30%, Even people who have been waiting in line for a year have to pay the extra 30% after the hike in price. People who signed the contract before the price increase stated that we have already spent thousands in preparation even before receiving the order. Customers were seen devastated by the Email sent out by Tesla as paying thousands of dollars more than they originally signed the contract for seems quite unfair.
Tesla has also reported that customers who have been waiting in line for months or even a year should quickly agree to the new terms and spend the required amount, which scales to thousands of dollars, or the customers will be put way back in line until they agree to the new price, Tesla has also given the option of opting out and asking for a full refund by logging into their accounts on Tesla’s website.
So why did Tesla increase their prices all of a sudden?
When asked, Tesla said the main reason for the price increase is “Roof Complexity”, almost all roofs are built differently, some have more joints and chimneys than others, this uses more material, and the cost of labor increases as more time is required to install a Solar Roof. These terms increase the overall cost of solar roofs.
Electrek has stated on their website that the price increases are quite significant and they don’t directly link it to Roof complexity. The spike in price could also be because of the huge increase in construction material prices.
Tesla should be clear about why the sudden 30% to 50% price increase has happened, as looking into previous year contracts and recently signed ones, it doesn’t seem that it’s all because of Roof complexity as both the simple and complex roofs have faced a hike, so there has to be something else that has made the price jump up, said Electrek.