[nathannecro]

Yeah, that's been my experience as a prospective Tesla Roof customer. For the record, I cancelled my order before this price hike was sent out, but man, Tesla's service and sales process is probably one of the worst experiences I've had from a price per service point of view.

FWIW, I own and have owned several Tesla vehicles and even though the economics of the Tesla solar roof + Powerwall didn't quite work out, I was willing to overpay a bit for the supposed ease of integration into the Tesla ecosystem. It was also a hedge against rolling power outages that California's been struggling with in the past few years.

I also have experience that Tesla customer service + sales support is pretty atrocious, but again, they were first movers and their product is legitimately pretty decent, so I was willing to take the hit. I was prepared for bad service, but what I got was legitimately awful.

I initially put a deposit down for a few Powerwalls (to be used to arbitrage power rates in CA and as a hedge against rolling blackouts). Over the next 3 months, I spoke with and was called by 6 different sales reps who told me that:

-- I could install the Powerwalls standalone and integrate it into my house

-- I needed to buy a Solar Roof otherwise the Powerwalls wouldn't work

-- I needed to buy a Solar Roof otherwise the wait time for a Powerwall was greater than two years

-- Even if I bought a Solar Roof, I could only buy one Powerwall

-- I could only buy one Powerwall. If I wanted to buy more than one, I would need to buy a Solar Roof as well.

-- They were not selling Powerwalls and the only way I could get a Powerwall was to buy a Solar Roof.

Obviously, they wanted to sell Solar Roofs. Fine. My house could probably use a new roof anyways, and the economics weren't that awful.

So I asked them what the next step was if I wanted to buy a Solar Roof (and some Powerwalls) and they said that they'd estimate my roof area from some satellite shots. They said that it'd probably take a few days.

About two months later, I get an email from Tesla letting me know that they had done their math and my quote was ready. The final price for just a Solar Roof (one Powerwall) system that output just 9.5kW? $60,000. Adding another Powerwall bumped it by $8,000. For what it's worth, I got several other quotes for a comparable roof replacement + solar panels and average pricing was around $40,000.

Tesla's proposal didn't discuss timing, didn't break down the cost of parts vs labor, and basically asked me to pay up and let them putz around till they decided to get to me. I asked for more information, got a call back about a month later. After our conversation, got an email with the breakdown of literally "roof = $xxx.xx" and "labor = $xxx.xx". Timing was cited to be between 3 - 9 months depending on supply.

Every single person I spoke with was different every time. There was some continuity on the email side, but honestly, it seems like Tesla couldn't be arsed to actually build or sell this product in a competent manner. I just wanted to put a few overpriced batteries in my house to keep the fridge running but Tesla turned this into a year-long debacle. Even after I canceled my order with Tesla, I still occasionally receive phone calls and emails from them asking to schedule my install date.

[Dort]

I own and have owned several Tesla vehicles

Given that Tesla hasn’t been around for very long, how long do/did your cars last, and why? Just interested, as the average (non-electrical) cars in my family last around 20 years.

[nathannecro]

Sure, early adopter in the Model S, leased for 4 years. I leased because EVs are still evolving in terms of tech and batteries have a finite lifespan (and are a pain to replace).

Actually went back to my 2009 diesel car when the lease expired because:

-- I'm tall and the Model S cars don't have much headroom. I've driven a few of the newer models (as courtesy cars) and for some reason, they feel much better in terms of headroom compared with the early models. I don't think they're listed as having more headroom though so this is a bit of a head scratcher for me. I don't think my car had a pano roof so that might have been the difference.

-- The QC and interior really is below standard for the price point of the car. A lot of plastic trim, squeaky bits, and laggy UI (for the main display -- driving was fine).

About a year later, I went back and leased a Model X for another 4 years. Headroom problem solved, QC still bad but the new processing unit made for a much smoother experience. Picked up a Model 3 as well and that car is far and away the best value proposition from Tesla. QC better on the 3, comfort improved (I actually prefer cloth seats to leather), and headroom is decent. Still leasing for reasons above.

I believe that EVs and autonomy are the future of passenger vehicles and Tesla makes decent EVs with decent autonomy. For my money, there are better EVs out there at most price points, but no one else has the Supercharger network and reasonably autonomous driving (on highways). I drive quite a bit and in heavy traffic (like 75% of my life) and over long distances (up and down California), Autopilot significantly reduces mental load and physical strain.

For what it's worth I still keep my old diesel around though it's requiring more and more maintenance even as its been driven less and less.

[wil421]

Judging by the used car mileage and years on some of the brands I’ve recently shopped for, a lot of people are taking out 1, 2, or 3 year leases.

I usually keep my cars for 8-10 years. How many miles are you putting on in 20 years? I put almost 200,000 miles in about 10 years on my 4Runner until the transmission started some crazy knocking sound at 230k.

[Dort]

I can’t remember from our previous car, but the current one is nearly at 290000km (~180000 miles) since 2007.

[loceng]

It doesn't sound like they have someone competent leading or coordinating efforts in their Solar division.

I believe Elon said the biggest issue for the whole ecosystem is battery supply, Powerwalls competing with availability for their EVs etc. Compound this with they're putting out and trying to scale new battery tech, this does feel like it could lead to this mess.

Certainly they'd want to capture orders ahead of the curve enough but problematic when the product is still evolving and costs and timeline aren't known yet.

[paxys]

You should schedule a date and time and see what happens.

[shawabawa3]

Sounds like they'll take a deposit and maybe schedule a date in a year

[nathannecro]

Exactly.