Tesla suspended the installation of solar panels on customer roofs due to global supply chain issues, leaving many customers who had already removed their original roofs to wait for months.
Globally, supply chain issues are affecting virtually every industry. Tesla’s auto business has also been affected by supply chain issues, but it is much better than its peers, and Tesla managed to double its vehicle production last year.
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Moreover, Tesla’s solar panel business also grew last year, but it began to be affected by supply chain issues, which were reported late last year to affect Tesla’s solar panel business. Tesla is starting to delay some projects to put solar panels on the roof.
At the time, Tesla’s progress in installing solar panels for established projects wasn’t much affected. But things changed in February when Tesla became concerned about the supply of solar panels. Tesla is notifying customers who are about to install solar panels that there may be delays in the project.
Now that a month has passed, Tesla has effectively suspended the installation of solar panels on rooftops for customers. Internal communications from Tesla’s solar business scheduling team show that at this time the team will not commit to customers to complete the installation. This has put some clients who have already removed the original roof in an awkward position.
This is the case with Ryan Prijic, a client who lives in the Los Angeles area. The Tesla solar team started construction in January this year, removing the original roof and waterproofing it.
At the time, Tesla told Prigitch that the solar panels would be installed in about eight weeks. The builders said the revealed waterproof layer would last for six months, so there would be no problems with the project.
It’s March, and it’s been more than eight weeks since the roof was removed, but Prigic still sees no sign of installing solar panels. Prigitch became concerned about the waterproofing of the roof.
Prigitch went to great lengths to contact a sales consultant but was told that due to a shortage of solar panels, the installation was temporarily unavailable. The sales consultant also said that it may not be installed until the end of this year, which is long past the waterproofing period of the roof.
In fact, the roof of Prigitch’s house had leaked twice, and Tesla had to come in to fix it. A construction worker who came to fix the leak told Prigic that a large number of solar panels were stuck in the Port of Los Angeles, but could not confirm it.
If ongoing operations like Prigitch’s are suspended for a few months, it is conceivable that other planned solar panel installations will experience significant delays. Prigic isn’t the only one facing the situation. Many buyers planning to install Tesla panels said their construction was delayed and Tesla had little communication.
Tesla makes solar panels at its Gigafactory in New York. The company’s goal is to produce enough solar panels to cover 1,000 residential roofs a week, but for now, the current output is far from that goal, as the industry as a whole is struggling to make solar panels.
