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Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

reuters.com

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Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#31

Post by sigstoat »

grecy wrote: post #22
camjohnson26 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Walton family collectively is worth over $150 billion, it’s not surprising they have exposure to a solar company somewhere in their vast fortune. If you’re implying that this lawsuit has no merit because of that investment that seems like an incredibly shaky accusation.

It's a little curious they wouldn't choose to buy panels from a company they own.... don't you think?

seems unlikely that the issue would've risen to the level of walmart's board, so they might not have even heard about.

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#32

Post by reitzensteinm »

markrote wrote: post #8

The Walton Family also happens to own much of First Solar, a competing provider of photovoltaic cells.

So are you saying they staged seven fires, or that after 7 of 240 installations caught fire they only sued because of their conflicting interests?

Tesla installed 29 MW of solar last quarter, compared to a peak of 253 MW at Solar City before the acquisition. First Solar, which isn't an apples to apples competitor since it specializes in utility scale, is on track to produce 1375 MW per quarter of panels this year.

Tesla's solar business is dead. They might turn it around with the solar roof product, but if that succeeds it will make Tesla Energy even less of a competitor to First Solar, since it has zero relevance to utility scale solar.

Even if Walmart had evil intent, why give Solar City the PR boost of hundreds of installations in the hope that they'll fail and they can later sue?

It's easy to make a nice conspiratorial quip, but there's nothing of substance here. Jumping at every shadow just numbs you for when you really should be angry.

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#34

Post by c0nfused »

o_p wrote: post #28
alfor wrote: post #13

Another Tesla bashing article by mainstream media, move along. 100s of thousand of damage, that's pocket change for Walmart and Tesla. Model X and S burst into flame !!! Tesla stock is down 1%, Be Afraid ! Don't buy Tesla !!! Tesla spend zero on advertising, their main source of revenue. They are also disrupting big oil and the auto industry, plenty of enemies to go around.

Teslas bursting into flames is a real risk though.

EVs burn frequently on the internet.

Compared to the fema estimate of 171,500 highway car fires per year.

https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/v19i2.pdf

Tesla has contributed 14 total since 2013. I know of at least 2 other cases by others have been reported

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/apr/22/tesla-inv...

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#35

Post by taneq »

the-pigeon wrote: post #29
sxates wrote: post #18

Anyone know details about how the solar panels resulted in fires?

These specific cases, no. But I used to work for a company that made solar components and fires were our biggest fear. The most likely issue is incorrect design or installation due to the complications of DC power. This article goes into details https://iffmag.mdmpublishing.com/solar-panels-and-the-dc-dan... Simply put DC power with enough current to power a home is much more dangerous than AC. And solar power isn't…

Not a solar installer, but who uses thin enough DC wiring that the current rating is an issue? Every solar installation I’ve seen uses way oversized DC wiring (4-6mm^2 for 10-20A closed-circuit current) to minimise losses. You could literally just short the wiring at the inverter and it’d never overheat.

Most fire hazard comes from connectors burning out from what I’ve seen.

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#36

Post by csteubs »

reitzensteinm wrote: post #32
markrote wrote: post #8

The Walton Family also happens to own much of First Solar, a competing provider of photovoltaic cells.

So are you saying they staged seven fires, or that after 7 of 240 installations caught fire they only sued because of their conflicting interests? Tesla installed 29 MW of solar last quarter, compared to a peak of 253 MW at Solar City before the acquisition. First Solar, which isn't an apples to apples competitor since it specializes in utility scale, is on track to produce 1375 MW per quarter of panels this year. Te…

Talk about putting words in someone's mouth. The original comment merely points out an interesting note in that both parties have their own interest in solar. You make so many specific counter-claims to a simple sentence that it seems like you're responding to the wrong comment.

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#37

Post by bredren »

NetBeck wrote: post #33

>totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket losses, Walmart said in the lawsuit. This amount is immaterial for each party involved.

Why would Tesla allow this to go to suit, given it’s likely press coverage? Surely there was opportunity to settle.

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#38

Post by [deleted] »

reitzensteinm wrote: post #32
markrote wrote: post #8

The Walton Family also happens to own much of First Solar, a competing provider of photovoltaic cells.

So are you saying they staged seven fires, or that after 7 of 240 installations caught fire they only sued because of their conflicting interests? Tesla installed 29 MW of solar last quarter, compared to a peak of 253 MW at Solar City before the acquisition. First Solar, which isn't an apples to apples competitor since it specializes in utility scale, is on track to produce 1375 MW per quarter of panels this year. Te…

[deleted]

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#39

Post by nominated1 »

A friend of mine is a union electrician with 15 years in the trade. He’s helped install dozens of solar farms across Northern California. One thing I found interesting/unnerving was that apparently the spacing tolerances between panels is quite low. He said it’s their biggest concern when it comes to fires.

So, maintenance seems like a must. Especially on rooftops or structures that will naturally “settle” over time. If I had to guess, these tolerances weren’t properly maintained or the buildings/roofs themselves weren’t solid enough to begin with.

If anyone can shed more light on this (pun intended)…

Re: Walmart sues Tesla over fires at stores fitted with its solar panels

#40

Post by outworlder »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #16
outworlder wrote: post #12

> Tesla is also facing a federal field investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board after several Model X and Model S owners across the globe said their cars burst into flames yawn Are other automakers suffering the same investigations? https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=812639 > Each year, from 2014 to 2016, an estimated 171,500 highway vehicle fires occurred in the United States, resulting in an annua…

> The media coverage for EVs is not proportional Do we have EV car fire frequencies for comparison with ICE engines? Without denominators saying “all cats burn” is overly reductive.

> Do we have EV car fire frequencies for comparison with ICE engines? Without denominators saying “all cats burn” is overly reductive.

Fine. And yet, is Reuters reporting those? In fact, why is Reuters even talking about cars?

Tesla fires feature very prominently in the news whenever they happen. When was the last time anyone here saw news of ICE fires? I only ever see those in local news, and only if they caused other incidents (like fatalities or traffic jams).

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