Tesla Power Wall
Tesla hasn’t figured it out yet
Twenty-seven percent reserved for backup
Okay, this is a long and sad story that I feel compelled to share, so please bear with me. My hope is Tesla will learn and improve their Power Wall offerings and services.
Back in May 2017, I placed a deposit for a Tesla Wall installation. On January 10, 2018, I finally got a functioning Tesla Wall system installed at my home. The product, after two failed attempts and much trauma and rewiring of my home electrical systems, was finally installed. So, I got what I wanted even though it did take nearly a year to achieve. Well sort of. As I write this, it is March 2018, and I still do not have final city approval of the electrical work Tesla performed at my home.
During the year it took to complete this project some five or six individuals from a combination of what was once Solar City and then Tesla was assigned. Each account manager fell by the wayside as the project stumbled along. To make matters even worse, each group within Tesla had no idea what the other group was doing or had done. The confusion meant every time Tesla assigned a new account manager, to this ill-fated project, I had to explain to them exactly what had transpired before their involvement.
This is a typical winter’s day with solar and the Power Wall
Tesla Energy Products is in dire need of reorganization. It seems that Elon Musk can reach into outer-space and build amazing electric cars, but I believe he has met his match when it comes to project management of electricians and building contractors.
As I write this, I’ve spent at least five days of my time waiting at my home for contractors and inspectors that never arrived. Tesla sent no email or voice messages to me, just silence. If I did not contact Tesla regularly, I’m sure I would not have progressed to this point.
The system they finally installed works, but not as advertised. It does indeed capture and store power from my photovoltaic cells and releases this power back to my home as the sun sets. It does indeed allow me to allocate some portion of the battery storage as a backup for my house in the advent of a loss of grid power. But, it does not allow me to schedule charging of the battery during off-peak grid power periods, Tesla assured me that the Power Wall would do this.
This is our grid power plan
I hope that Tesla will finally complete my project and achieve the final sign-off of the electrical work by the city. And I hope that eventually, they will update their Power Wall software to allow me to schedule off-peak charging. But mostly I hope that Tesla will be able to learn how to project manage electricians and building contractors and offer reasonable service to their Power Wall customers.