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

reuters.com

41–50 of 154 posts

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

#41
post #37
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.

It's possible they asked for an absurd amount knowing they would want to settle.

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

#42
post #20

> 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…

Yeah, but relatively speaking there aren't that many Tesla's on the road. What you'd need to do is compare the number of Tesla fires (per 1000 cars) versus other new IC cars (per 1000).

Indeed, and please share the numbers if you have them. But my complaint was centered more in the media reporting, rather than the investigation per-se.

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

#43
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The post he was replying to was clearly implying foul play, as it would not have any relevance to the story otherwise. What I think is odd is the fact that you parse human language like a machine rather than a human. There is more to human language than the extremely literal interpretation of the words in a sentence. Implied meaning is one of those things.

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

#44
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…

I wonder if Tesla moving into utility scale battery makes them a competitor or ally to solar. Both right?

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

#45
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If I misinterpreted the parent, I'm genuinely happy to delete my post and apologize. But I don't think I did.

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

#46
post #19
post #3

Wasn’t this work done during the SolarCity years?

I found that interesting as well. The article is trying to link solar panel failures to Tesla vehicle failures. They were not born from the same company nor process. It seems whatever generated the story was looking for some segue into how the price is down. The stock price was affected by the market's new knowledge. They both contain words for fire but are otherwise independent and distant events in Tesla's history.…

It was originally SolarCity that did the work, but SolarCity was acquired by and merged into Tesla.

The surviving entity was Tesla, so Walmart sued Tesla.

(SolarCity's debts actually represent the majority part of Tesla's debt load and is part of why Tesla has been struggling financially despite 19%+ margin on each car sold.)

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

#47
post #30
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found that interesting as well. The article is trying to link solar panel failures to Tesla vehicle failures. They were not born from the same company nor process. It seems whatever generated the story was looking for some segue into how the price is down. The stock price was affected by the market's new knowledge. They both contain words for fire but are otherwise independent and distant events in Tesla's history.…

My friends at SolarCity never had to work 70h in a week before Tesla acquired them (nor work weekends installing solar panels on Musk mansion in L.A.) So it might very well be the result of the same company and processes.

So your friend had better working conditions during the same time period this work was done (before the acquisition)?

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

#48
post #30
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found that interesting as well. The article is trying to link solar panel failures to Tesla vehicle failures. They were not born from the same company nor process. It seems whatever generated the story was looking for some segue into how the price is down. The stock price was affected by the market's new knowledge. They both contain words for fire but are otherwise independent and distant events in Tesla's history.…

My friends at SolarCity never had to work 70h in a week before Tesla acquired them (nor work weekends installing solar panels on Musk mansion in L.A.) So it might very well be the result of the same company and processes.

Honestly with all the Tesla shorts trolling HN, an unsubstantiated comment like this from a fresh account is very suspicious. Can you post from an account with more comment history?

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

#49
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

If I misinterpreted the parent, I'm genuinely happy to delete my post and apologize. But I don't think I did.

I interpreted the post the same way.

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

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“This is a breach of contract action arising from years of gross negligence and failure to live up to industry standards by Tesla with respect to solar panels that Tesla designed, installed, and promised to operate and maintain safely on the roofs of hundreds of Walmart stores,” Tesla seems to be the operator and maintainer. I would expect a contract has maintenance as a flat fee per year if it is anything like other…

As alleged by Walmart. Failure due to rushed, shoddy work is definitely Tesla's M.O., but Walmart is also not exactly the most credible source, given their history.

There would be a written contract between the two companies outlining Tesla's responsibilities. If this case proceeds that far, it would definitely be part of the evidentiary record.
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