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Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

electrek.co

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Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#41

Post by JKCalhoun »

"…Tesla installed only about 3,000 Solar Roof systems across the US, peaking at just 21 to 32 installations a week — more than 95% short of Elon Musk’s repeated promise of 1,000 weekly installations by 2019-2020."

What was he smoking? (Oh, never mind that.) I mean was he expecting Federal tax incentives/rebates for installing solar to create that demand for 1,000/week?

(Or perhaps I should ask what were all these contractors smoking that thought it was a good idea to sink $100K of their money to go into business pedaling his wares?)

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#42

Post by dgellow »

Zigurd wrote: post #6

Optimus robots will arrive in Robo taxis to install your Tesla solar roof which will also receive Internet and XAI LLM service from orbiting data centers. When? By the end of the year.

Don’t forget to pay the $10k to keep your spot in the waiting list!

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#43

Post by mytailorisrich »

ElProlactin wrote: post #12

> Tesla offloaded the hardest, least profitable part of the Solar Roof — the physical install and the customer relationship — onto small local companies, let them absorb the training and tooling costs, and then pulled the product out from under them. I wonder how many of the companies understood this is what Tesla was doing, and recognized the risk inherent in their position.

It seems to me that this is standard practice in the industry (solar panels/batteries, HVAC, boilers, heat pumps, etc). And, yes it leaves you at risk if the supplier decides to cancel the product(s) or if they just go bust.

Electrek has a bias against Tesla/Musk, IMHO and so tend to paint everything in a negative way. You need to take what they write with a grain of salt.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#44

Post by JLO64 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #30
felixgallo wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you suspect Amazon is going to stop delivering packages?

I suspect they will continue to use “contractors” until regime change forces them not to. Midterms look good for swinging toward Dems (due to gestures broadly at everything ), and this federal admin has an end date (relates to NLRB and employee classification enforcement). These issues change on an arc over years or decades. NYC has started to do this until then: https://www.nyc.gov/mayors-office/news/2026/08/mayor-m…

I deliver packages for Amazon as an independent contractor (via Amazon Flex). While there are plenty of issues I have with it, I have an overall positive sentiment. For those who don’t want to work full time hours (you can schedule yourself in 1-5 hour blocks), immigrants, or are just in a bad spot it’s not a bad option. I’ve worked for food delivery apps as well and I think it’s a better gig compared to those other ones.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#45

Post by ghostly_s »

ralph_cifaretto wrote: post #37
Zigurd wrote: post #6

Optimus robots will arrive in Robo taxis to install your Tesla solar roof which will also receive Internet and XAI LLM service from orbiting data centers. When? By the end of the year.

[flagged]

There was nothing here to ruin, this is exactly the typical level of discourse.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#46

Post by afavour »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #34
a4isms wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I suspect that Amazon are nearly continuously planning for automated deliveries. Drones? Trucks with lockers that stop in front of your house and you retrieve your delivery? I dunno, but there's no way Bezos doesn't look at his drivers and delivery partners and think, "Your livelihood will soon be my margin."

Do you think robotics on the street are going to last long at scale? How’s it going for Flock ALPR cameras? Is Bezos going to be out in the streets defending automated vehicles, drones, and last mile robots on foot? Unlikely.

I don’t think that comparison works. People aren’t attacking Flock cameras because they’re taking work away from hard working video camera watchers. It’s because they’re spying on them. By comparison autonomous delivery vehicles aren’t doing anything the manned vehicles don’t do today.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#47

Post by JKCalhoun »

doodlebugging wrote: post #38

I wonder about those first adopters and where this leaves them with future support or warranty issues. The system itself looks so different from standard panel-based rooftop solar that installers will need to have been trained to install the tiles. After those installers get stiffed I feel like they might have zero incentive to come out and look at any systems that develop issues over time. I looked at this tile-base…

Well, class-action lawsuits are a thing.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#48

Post by delusional »

ElProlactin wrote: post #12

> Tesla offloaded the hardest, least profitable part of the Solar Roof — the physical install and the customer relationship — onto small local companies, let them absorb the training and tooling costs, and then pulled the product out from under them. I wonder how many of the companies understood this is what Tesla was doing, and recognized the risk inherent in their position.

Coming from a family of local contractors, some of whom install HVAC and such. Most of them probably understood this. It's part of the business. Pretty much every product, you are going to install, has some sort of training required, to install it properly, such that the manufacturer warranty isn't voided.

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#49

Post by ben_w »

felixgallo wrote: post #28
toomuchtodo wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah, same with Amazon delivery subcontractors. This is sophisticated capitalists and industrialists preying on the unsophisticated.

Do you suspect Amazon is going to stop delivering packages?

To add to sibling comment about the "contractor" part being the key word: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=...

Re: Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses

#50

Post by otherme123 »

ralph_cifaretto wrote: post #37
Zigurd wrote: post #6

Optimus robots will arrive in Robo taxis to install your Tesla solar roof which will also receive Internet and XAI LLM service from orbiting data centers. When? By the end of the year.

[flagged]

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

> Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills.

At the bottom. With links to comments as early as 2007 saying exactly the same.

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