The mainstream appeal of renewable energy products will truly be put to the test this year, as Tesla revealed Thursday its plan to establish selling spaces for the company’s solar panels and PowerWall batteries in 800 Home Depot stores around the country.
The retail spaces, which will be Tesla-branded and staffed by Tesla employees, will be 12 feet tall and 7 feet wide and may include visual demonstrations showing how the products work, Bloomberg reports.
The company has already established such kiosks in a number of Home Depots in southern California, and spaces in stores in Las Vegas and Orlando are scheduled to open this week. By mid-2018, Tesla says, the company will have spaces in 800 of Home Depot’s 2,200 locations.
Fortune detailed on Thursday what the kiosks will offer customers:
“The Tesla-branded kiosks will staff its own employees to demonstrate real-time rooftop solar and Powerwall storage recommendations to customers by using a home address and satellite imagery to estimate sunlight, shading, and other rooftop factors. Customers can then request a customized quote and schedule an on-site energy consultation from a Tesla operations representative.”
PowerWall battery systems are designed to store electricity generated by a building’s solar panels. For owners of a Tesla electric vehicle, the unit can also act as an at-home fill-up station. Further, PowerWall units can be used to supply power following an outage.
Sources familiar with the arrangement between Tesla and Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement chain, told Bloomberg that a similar deal may soon be reached with Lowe’s, Home Depot’s main competitor.
Analysts from research firm Consumer Edge told MarketWatch the fate of Tesla’s new venture will hinge on reliability.
“Consistency of execution (getting back to customers in a timely way) will be key to both word-of-mouth and closing these large-ticket sales,” the analysts said.
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Tesla keeps going for the win! I love to see such a great brand making these large strides.
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Nice to see this news.good job.
Hopefully these big brands & stores keep pushing this before our gvt bans them all
Tesla never ceases to amaze me! Elon Musk is the leader we need to initiate even more worldwide environmental change.
Although I’m not a huge fan of the depot, this is big news for renewables. I have solar and am just waiting for the powerwall to become a little more affordable. Then it’s an electric car for sure. Some people don’t understand this about home solar — if you are grid tied and produce only 100% of your electric needs, adding an electric car would end up causing a significant not negative balance on the meter. But adding the powerwall, or other battery system, would allow you to store a lot of the energy produced during the day when you aren’t actually much of it. So without adding more panels to the array, the powerwall would make an electric car very cheap to charge.
Hope this comes to home depot Canada as well thanks for the news.
Wish it were Lowe's
wow amazing i wish this was in Australia. We are a little behind here sometimes :-)