Tesla will cut prices of solar panels to boost sales

Tesla plans to sell its solar panels at a price 38% lower than the national average in order to stop the decline in its solar activity. The New York Times Sanjay Shah, head of Tesla's solar department, wants to sell panels at $ 1.75- $ 1.99 per watt, compared with a national average of $ 2.85.

Shah highlights two main ways in which Tesla will realize these price reductions. The first is to further standardize its facilities. Customers will now only be able to purchase panels in increments of 4 kW or 12 panels. Second, they will be asked to perform certain steps of the home installation process, such as the photography of electrical meters and circuit breakers, which would normally have required Tesla's visit.

These changes are necessary to revive a significant decline in solar panel installations, which reached their lowest level in six years in the first quarter of this year. The news of Buffalo notes that the company has deployed 47 megawatts during the quarter, compared with 73 megawatts for the same period in 2018. This downturn means that Tesla rose to third place in terms of solar installations in the United States, behind Sunrun and Vivint Solar, according to the same source. NYT.

Picture: Tesla

In the second half of this year, Shah said he plans to increase sales of Tesla's long-awaited solar roof, a set of solar shingles that looks like ordinary roofing materials. The roof was announced in 2016 and installed on the house of Elon Musk in 2017. At the last call of Tesla's financial results, Musk said the company was still developing and testing the roof, but that sustainability issues had delayed.

Despite these challenges, Tesla's solar business remains profitable. This is more than can be said for society as a whole after losing $ 702 million in the last quarter, due to lower-than-expected sales of its cars and difficulties in delivering them in Europe and Europe. China. Musk expects the company's losses to continue in the second quarter, before returning to profitability in the second half of this year.