[HN Gopher] Tesla cancels solar projects in mass, scales back so...
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       Tesla cancels solar projects in mass, scales back solar division
        
       Author : mfiguiere
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2022-11-10 19:07 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (electrek.co)
 (TXT) w3m dump (electrek.co)
        
       | andsoitis wrote:
       | > After years of its solar business slowing down since acquiring
       | it through taking over SolarCity in 2016, Tesla's solar division
       | was finally getting some momentum over the last few quarters.
       | 
       | What was the strategic reason for a car company buying a solar
       | power company? The "sustainable energy" connection seems dubious
       | to me (Tesla is a car company).
       | 
       | But I also can't believe it was mostly to help out his cousins
       | (who founded SolarCity).
        
         | __s wrote:
         | It can make sense if you squint & consider both battery
         | companies
        
         | kranke155 wrote:
         | Why wouldn't you believe it? At the time even The Economist
         | called him out in it.
        
       | throw8383833jj wrote:
       | I hope they can still get their app fixed. I haven't been able to
       | see solar data from my panels in over a week now. the last time
       | this happened it took 6 emails and 2 phone calls for them to fix
       | it.
        
       | toomuchtodo wrote:
       | Likely didn't generate the battery sales they expected it would,
       | and scaling individual residential projects is hard.
        
       | bentt wrote:
       | There's a lot more financial opportunity in centralizing solar
       | and selling the electricity than in providing residential solar,
       | where they only can make money after the fact by selling
       | batteries. As a public company, I can see how they would realize
       | this, even if it's anti-consumer.
        
       | 1123581321 wrote:
       | So many people finance solar, or lease to installers growing with
       | investment money, that pullbacks this year and next are
       | inevitable as rates rise. State and federal incentives don't
       | bring projects into the range of discretionary cash on hand for
       | typical homeowners.
        
       | magwa101 wrote:
        
       | countvonbalzac wrote:
       | Elon should focus on accelerating the world's transition to
       | sustainable energy, rather than accelerating Twitter's transition
       | to being a free for all hell scape.
        
         | sabertoothed wrote:
         | ...and rather than recommending voting for politicians who do
         | not believe in man-made climate change...
        
           | proffeatur8 wrote:
        
           | guywithahat wrote:
           | He has never recommended voting for a politician who doesn't
           | believe in climate change. He once said that if you want a
           | split congress you have to vote for the party not in control
           | of congress but that's a very different thing than telling
           | someone to vote for a politician who doesn't believe in
           | climate change
        
             | glial wrote:
             | ...except in this specific case, where it's exactly the
             | same thing.
        
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       (page generated 2022-11-10 23:03 UTC)