Build a off grid system only, don’t become a generator. Batteries and 8800 watts solar, 16kw preferably. You can build a pergola and put solar on it. This will low your bill to 100 to 0 dollars a month depending on solar and battery size and time of the year assuming your using a max of 60kw per day. One place to start looking for controllers and solar is Signature solar. For 8800 watt solar and 12kw controller plus all hardware is around 16K if you DYI it. Also no generator license needed.
Who told you 4kW is enough?! 🤣 Geez thats undersized. Just throw some panels on the ground or make a permit free ground mount. Southern California is just horrible. Cant believe nem 3.0. idk why people live there still. Glad I moved
I viewed Solar and a battery (7.56kWh solar PV and Tesla Powewall) as an investment in my home and now I am rewarded by a much cheaper electricity bill. we have an Air Source Heat Pump, all electric household for cooking as well as lawn mowers and home use. Ev only so no Petrol/gas bills. In UK and total monthly bill is less than £90 per month.
I’m in TX. When Beryl hit we lost power and my house was the only one with powerwalls. We didn’t even notice til the Facebook group blew up. Some houses didn’t get electricity for 3-4 days. Batteries are so worth it. You use them every day unlike a generator
Batteries are limited. Paying $70K for solar and a couple of power walls is insane considering that an $800 generator makes more power and will run 4 days on $60 bucks in gas. Point is that with the 2 days of cloudy weather after the storm passed, solar was damn near useless.
We have family in Texas. They went through the Snowpocolipse a few years ago. People were literally dying trying to keep their house warm. Their neighbor's pipes froze and burst, and did not have running water for 10 days. Sun came out on day 2. If they would have had solar and Powerwalls they could have stayed nice and warm the whole time.
@@JBoy340a Electricity IS THE WORST way to heat a space. Resistance heaters are terribly inefficient and power hungry. Again, spending $30-$40 thousand dollars for power walls and another $20-$30 thousand for installed solar just to stay warm for a few days every 5 years is just nuts. Get a generator and enough gas storage for 3 days and a little diesel heater and for less than $700 you're prepared for pretty much all disasters.
@@arthurfoyt6727 my whole set up with solar and 2 powerwalls cost $32k. Which is cheaper than a car. Plus I haven’t paid an electric bill in two years so it pays for itself.
@@johnnywang206 ONE Tesla Powerwall 3 lists for $15,300 (before taxes). TWO powerwalls + panels + installation for $32K? Not buying that. Also not buying that you're running a whole house with A/C and heat on solar year round.
I’m in Australia, (plenty of sunshine) I have a 2022 Model 3 RWD and I have a 17kw Solar Edge solar system with two 10 kw Solar Edge batteries. It’s still not enough for my family. We use between 60kw and 105kw per day.
So glad we got 8.4kW and 1 powerwall in 2022!!! Sorry man! The powerwall really helps us save a ton by avoiding peak rates entirely here on SDGE. We went with Tesla Solar direct, it was by far the cheapest and they’ve been solid with our install, zero hardware issues. Just one bad firmware update took it offline for a few hours, that’s it.
@@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403 yes it is used daily from 4pm onward. Depending on how much ac we use it lasts more or less time, but I’ve never tested it for degradation because our usage on the whole house backup varies every day. It definitely covers our needs on our 1800sqft house that is 100% electric, zero gas.
You would want your battery degraded as fast as possible by 7th, 8th year from now. Tesla will replace a better battery with better battery technology like Solid State one.
@@Radium3DI have a 9.1Kw system installed back in 2018 and have been considering getting 2 PW. Do you fully charge and discharge the PW daily? Is the PW charge to 100% daily or like the cars and up to 80%? I'm under SDG&E and with the price increase, I am considering of getting the PW and not adding panels because I don't want to switch to NEM 3.0
I got installed a 13.365 system with Tesla and one Powerwall 3 with Tesla. The only things that still bothers me is that they bought up from your ownership for SRECs credits for half of the cost. Other than that, I will see how it goes since I two weeks old solar owner.
Other than Tesla the quote from other solar companies is negotiable. I was able to reduce my quote from Sunrun by $500. Also when working with an installer you have to think if that company will still be around for 25yrs which is the usual warranty period. I have my PV panels for 8 years now and I already replaced the inverter and 1 optimizer.
Great video! I have a 15 KW Tesla system, with two Tesla PW3's. The one major problem I have is with Tesla customer service, unreachable and extremely slow!!
Once the missing gas tax starts to hurt the gov'ts budget you can bet they will find a way to recoup that money by raising electricity rates, cost for using the public roads, more tolls, car ownership tax, etc, etc, etc.
So weird to see your solar app without a Powerwall icon on the left side of the house since we have a Powerwall. You get used to seeing what you look at and then without the PW it looks so different. With the Powewall, you see energy flow from the solar to the PW, PW to the house (windows) and from the grid to the box in the middle
My Tesla Solar is rated 4.8kW panels with one Power Wall. Got a model Y, single story house 1700 sqft. Plenty enough to charge the ev and power the house. Off the grid at night, thanks to the power wall. I got no true-up and get credit from day one. But you will need to be mindful of usage otherwise you can go over or end up with true-up. Also with the rolling blackouts, power wall helps a lot. My PG&E bill average is $70 without credit, with credit $30 and that is gas only and including interconnection of $10 from the grid.
You should also calculate your break-even point and how much money you could make investing it rather than owning solar. By my calculations, it'll take you over 10 years to break even... if you invest that money and account for future inflation, it'll take you over 15 years.
If you don't use the electricity you're producing then yes, it will take forever. But @EverydayChris has multiple EVs, and more electrical appliances in his home. Not to mention if you add a heat pump HVAC and anything else heat pump, then your savings are multiplied because HP are naturally energy savers. Please don't say HP don't work in extreme heat or cold because that's a myth and has been proven wrong. People stop thinking of solar/battery as a good way to "sell" energy to the grid to make money. It's now a race to get the right hardware to make your own energy and stop paying ridiculous rising prices.
Please provide us with a follow-up once your new/bigger system is completed. I started with a 4kW system as well and have been thinking of adding/upgrading as well.
My bill is 423.00 to 550.00 a month. I went solar / tesla system . Just got it put in and I haven’t seen a difference just yet because it’s barely been installed 8-27-2024. I hope it’s gonna provide some financial relief
I also went solar back in 2016 and sized my unit to my annual power consumption for 2015. I agree with you regarding sizing it for future expansion. Post solar, we used the A/C more and added a hot tub which ended up with a $5,000 true up bill. My typical monthly solar bill was $125 on a 3,000 sqft home. I added more solar and informed my solar provider I wanted to be 180% of my max energy annual consumption in 2018. My new solar bill is the $125 + $215 which makes me 180% of my annual power consumption. I can add 2 or 3 EVs. My wife and I have decided not to buy an EV. Why? What would anyone say if they were going to buy a gasoline powered car and the dealer informed them the engine would 100% fail at 200,000 miles? Many would logically look elsewhere for a more dependable vehicle. Well, EVs suffer that same predicament. Although many EV manufacturer's warranty their batteries for 8 years, I've seen reports that the original 2007 Tesla Roadsters have failed battery packs by 15 years. These owners have sought to repair them with a sticker shock of over $15,000 and a waiting period of 3 years. And as for being environmentally friendly, the mining of lithium, cobalt and nickel uses diesel powered equipment vastly undermining the environment. I also googled the composition of the atmosphere and according to NASA and NOAA, the air is comprised of 78% N2 gas, 21% O2 gas, 1% other. The 1% other is 0.98% argon and what amount is CO2? CO2 is 0.042 % and what of that is human contribution? Ten percent of that 0.042% which means humans contribute 0.0042%. I graduated from the University of Alabama College of Engineering and looked at the fan capacity of Bryant Denny Stadium which is 101,241. So, the 0.0042% would mean 4 people out of the 101,241 jam packed fans in the stadium is Carbon Dioxide. This is crazy and leads me to believe it is a ploy to make money. Here's a Tesla model S customer complaining about a $22,000 battery replacement. I am a car guy and I still have my 2000 Chevrolet Suburban purchased new in 2000. It is as of October 4, 2024; 24 years old and has 348,000 miles. Still runs great. I change the transmission fluid every 100,000 miles and oil every 4,000 miles. I have a 2009 Cadillac CTS and was informed the transmission fluid is sealed so I never changed it. Well, I drove it with my son to his college in Tucson. It failed on us when we arrived. It had 228,000 miles and was 11 years old then. The transmission place charged me $5,000 and got the transmission installed in 2 weeks. This is definitely much faster than the 2007 Tesla Roadster wait period of 3 years. Oh, once I got me Cadillac back home in Northern California, I drove it for Lyft and made $20,000 in 1-1/2 years. Got back my money for the repairs and it runs great with no check engine light. I learned my lesson, Change transmission fluid every 100,000 miles and oil every 4,000 miles and the vehicle will last forever. th-cam.com/video/T7Q0nNkQTCo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=_tBL5uA8q3pn_G9Z
I got 9.6kw Tesl solar panels for one year and one MY ,And a good months I just paid 22 dlls every 2 months, plus I got 150 dlls credit ,first they told I just need 18 panels but I requested 24 panels. Without powerwall ,my production is more even charging my EV night time 😊. I just paid 16k after almost 6k credit
Ouch. 4kW is really small. in 2020 we got 12.75 kW solarroof and 2 powerwalls. We needed another new tile roof (second in 22 years, grrr) and the cost of the Solarroof was about the same as a new tile roof. We are in NorCal and since getting the solarroof and powerwall have no net powerbills for the year. We also participate in the Tesla Virtual Powerplant Program(VPP) that resulted in a $250 check last year and $400 the year before. With our rates jumping from $0.18 in 2015 to $0.42 per peak kWh now we are really glad we spent the money. Plus in the outages we have had we, and our neighbors a couple houses down with a different battery system, are the only ones with lights and AC. My biggest complaint of Tesla solar is that it does not have a system that lets me use the 150 kWh (X and 3) from out Telsa vehicle batteries. So if the power goes out with several cloudy days in a row we will have an issue keeping the home going, but we can drive anywhere.
The problem is not your solar. The problem is your Tesla car. They do not do vehicle to load, vehicle to home or vehicle to grid. Most other EVs already have at least vehicle to load which allows running a few appliances from the car battery. Tesla is way behind in this.
I have 13kw+2 PW which enough for me to cover all my electricity last year including charging my Model Y every night which consume 30K miles last year. That is all electric bills + my gasoline bills. I got a 30 years loan to cover that at 5%. It is super cheap because I am living in North Cal which electric bill is insane high at $0.62 at peak, $0.51 at part peak and 0.31 at off peak. Those 2 PW was the best investment I had for last year, period. My Sep PG&E bill is $14.95. Yeah, I also changed my gas stove to Induction burners.
return on investment is more than 10 years. tax credits only work on those that owe taxes. those that get refunds usually don't qualify for credits. to avoid permits, i'm building separate off grid solar for my pool pumps/heater and my EV. spend the rest on energy efficient appliances (hybrid water heater and variable speed heat pump), reinsulate attic and seal the house. also replaced 15 year old roof with metal and added solar vents.
We put 6.8kw of solar up 5 years ago because we were always in tier 2 and I knew power was going up astronomically. The system has pretty much paid itself off, and the increasing power prices have helped. I wish we'd done a battery bank, especially the last couple years with all the fires and power outages.
Really interesting video to see how solar works in CA - a whole different world. We are in MT. 14 cents/KWH, no time of day rates - always 14cent/KWH. Net metering always provides 14 cents/KWH for each KWH you send out to the grid. If you send as much out to the grid as you use, the only bill is a $5 per month admin fee. No real incentive at all to have a power wall type battery except for power outages, and a generator is much cheaper. We power our house and a Tesla MY on a 7200 watt array that I built myself - about $12K at today's prices for the whole system before the 30% tax credit. So, for those discouraged by Chris's high price tag, depending on where you live there might be a way to do it a log cheaper.
In Southern California, outside of the summer months, we generate enough surplus power to supply electricity to the house for a summer month. Don’t let anyone tell you that you won’t generate surplus power outside of the summer months.
You won’t generate surplus power outside of the summer months if you live anywhere along the gulf coast or eastern USA. SoCal? yea, spending crazy money on a huge solar collector is less crazy.
@@arthurfoyt6727 There is legislation being circulated in Sacramento that you will no longer receive a 1:1 credit for the excess electricity generated during the day. The credit could be as low as 25%.
Thank goodness I opted out and refused to switch to one of SCE's TOU plans. I'm still on the standard tiered system, and also still grandfathered in the original net metering structure so I get that 1:1 $ when I put energy back to the grid. That being said, we now have 2 EV's in our household so yeah, our end of year cost has gone way up. The TOU Prime which is "supposed" to be cheaper for EV owners computes to an extra $1k+ a year due to the peak usage costs. Oh, and here's the saddest thing. Charging at a Tesla Supercharger is actually cheaper than me charging at home.... My tiered rate for tier 2 (which I hit pretty quick with 2 EV's) is $0.42kWh, while charging at a SC can be anywhere from $0.28 to $0.40kWh. That's sad... So yes, we are planning on adding a Tesla Powerwall to our 8.9Kw system sometime in the not-too-distant future, at which time I can switch to TOU Prime, with the plan of the PW powering the house during those 5 hour peak times, essentially making all my electricity cost $0.25kWh, about 44% less. Unless I have to switch to NM 3 (2?, whichever the new crappy one is), then just adding a few more panels might be best for me instead of adding a PW. Or maybe do both. Ugh...
I don't know if its going to be rough...Solar in Los Angeles area has become more common now...there are more and more roofers who are getting to know how to take down solar panels, since CA requires new home developments to come with solar. The infrastructure used to hold up the panels have become so "standard" that a roofer should be able to take it apart and put it back together easily. I got Tesla solar and most of the roofers that came to install mine were former roofers. It only took them half a day to install everything.
0:35 Dude, 32 cents/kwh is high! You would think it would be cheaper in SoCal with so much sun. In Central Texas I have been paying consistently less than 12 cents/kwh for the past two years, flat rate with no time of use pricing. In Greater Boston, Massachusetts, where I previously owned a home, I was paying 34 cents/kwh. And don't get me started with 2:36 ==> 61 cents/kwh is INSANE. Solar is a must. I look forward to following your adventures in energy sovereignty.
Yep I’m in Central Texas and only getting panels + powerwall for backup. It’s a pretty expensive insurance policy in case power goes out, but I can’t afford to have any WiFi downtime since I work from home.
@@VishalRaoOnTH-cam Nice! Same thing in New Mexicom about .12 p/kw. If you have an EV, electric company charges .04 for off peak hours. Solar installs here have a pay out of 10-15 years. It is not worth the investment for my area.
I purchased a 9kw system under the NEM 2.0 here in Socal under SCE. I spec’d to over produce a bit since I planned to grow my family but over estimated the amount of miles I was going to drive my Tesla EV. I looked into a powerwall at that time it was not worth it on the ROI (there was no ROI) even with NEM 3.0 I don’t believe there is any ROI but I never done the math because I didn’t need to. I currently under produce during the summer months when the AC is in heavy use and over produce during the non summer months. I also charge my EV during the day time when solar is producing to utilized as much as the solar instead of sending it to the grid. This reduces my non recoverable charge of about 5 cents per kWh whenever I use from the grid, which is what I would have to pay if I charged at night. Last year on my true up date, I had about $500 credit accumulated for the 12 month period.
I’m still grandfathered in on NEM 1.0. Though, I’m also on a 4kw system. A little difficult to justify Powerwall. By now, (13 years), I’ve paid off my original solar panels, so maybe it’s time to upgrade!
Get rid of the TOU plan. I live in the OC and just use regular rates. Still .33kwh whenever I use it. Still too high but no worrying about when I use it like TOU plan.
32 cents is very cheap for 4-9pm! My area is 65 cents before electricity delivery fee. And actually, If you install everything yourself, a powerwall money can build 16000Kw solar panel. The 0s are correct number.
Thank you for making this video. Been in many discussions on X with folks trying to explain how CA new NEM 3.0 and changes in billing has made it difficult to jump to an EV when you charge at home. My neighbor ended up with a $3000 true up bill after getting a Tesla and charging it at home at night.
@@UTECHPIA we also charge at Superchargers often. There are 10 locations within 10 miles of the house colocated with food and shopping. It is just too convenient to pass up.
CPUC is run by special interest groups and OCPA is a special interest group that identifies as a power company. I installed 4kw in 2014 for $10k after tax credit; charged a Model S 50k miles and NO electricity bill all the way until 2021 when they killed net metering and rates changed like CRAZY... instantly $0 to about $1.5k a year. Fortunately had full ROI on that, but wasn't thrilled to need to spend $11k adding 5.5kw to hopefully hold off the electricity bills.
An EV driving 10k miles/yr, is about 3MWH per year. So, you may need to add that to annual generation capacity for solar plan... but, for me, since I am ToU rates and my solar points in afternoon (peak rates) sun, cost-wise (not $) I am still break-even. SO, .. it depends. Note using powerwall to charge overnight won't work... car is 6x bigger battery than powerwall.
In FL electric is only 13.5 cents a Kilowatt. Solar companies here want to sell you a flat rate for electricity while they own your solar panels. That gets complicated when you try to sell your house. I would only buy solar outright if I were to do it. I am going to make an off grid RV in my back yard so I can have free solar without dealing with electric company. There are always ways to get around regulations that restrict our sovereignty. 😊
I have two arrays. The first came with our new house. Long story short, we leased the panels - bad mistake for our situation. I think it was also a 4kw system. Added more panels before NEM3. So now we have 35 total panels on two systems, SunPower and Enphase. Size wise it’s fine with 3 EVs. But we don’t charge all the time at home. Sometimes the rates are superchargers are cheaper even with solar. And I tend to plan errands with charging. I want to look into batteries next. Might do Powerwalls or Enphase batteries. Edison billing is so confusing. I don’t get it 🤷🏻♂️ wish we can go with a different company or go totally off grid which is “not allowed”.
Crazy prices. In The Netherlands we have too much solar power during the summer days. This results in negative energy prices so you get paid to charge your car, do laundry etc.
Good video. Question, are surge suppressors installed in your system? Where I live in the Pacific Northwest our utility electricity is prone to voltage spikes. These spikes often damage electronic equipment. I just installed 14 KW of solar and a Powerwall but no surge suppressors were included.
Biggest mistake is living in Cali. I salute you for enduring their policies in regards to energy it is brutal. Here in FL i pay about 13cents a KwH i cant even fathom the cali prices. 😮
tesla honestly needs to allow all their cars to act as a powerwalls when it is needed.Another thing they need to do, - come up with a module so it can charge from split phase generator or maybe even single phase generator. I have 12kWh system, around 14k kWh generation in a year (houston). But in the cloudy darky days generation from the whole array just around 6kWh. I even had couple of days when generation was 2-3kWh. I mean I can adjust my lifestyle to the weather. I can run laundry and dryer when it is plenty of generation. But with my model 3 I'd say that it is not enough energy. I cannot charge my car during the day cause I am at work. But I don't want to have 10 powerwalls ... So probably the best idea would be to have silent diesel generator on the backyard, which can kick in during bad days and charge the powerwalls in 1-2h. But for sure California not gonna like those solutions.
and btw we have here in Houston "free nights" from 8pm to 5 am. Totally free energy without delivery. Not sure for how long it will last. But what is cool about it, - that I can charge everything during those hours (including powerwalls) and I can give up for free my solar generation during the day (not looking for profit).
@@EverydayChris I think it is a joker in Elon's back pocket to enable that feature. But probably it is not right time yet. But I feel he will do it eventually. Sooner or later.
I have noticed other companies charges new owner fee. If previous owner left you with their solar but for new owner solar company such as Enphase charges new owner fee. I thjnk this is ridiculous
It’s all relative. If you lease panels, make sure you read the fine print, some of them you can make a lump sum payment and get rid of the monthly cost. Powerwalls are not the only battery system you can install, I have Enphase everything, but there are other options as well. Make sure you know how to use your system to save during peak times, if you are just letting the panels and the batteries do their own thing it maybe costing you. Set your charging at a lower amp rate if you can to maximize the use of you panels and batteries. I’m glad I have solar, it takes some of the load off of our overall costs for all of our electricity use. If we didn’t have solar and batteries, our bills would be through the roof!
Same, 10c /KwH here in Eugene Oregon, and we're have solar with net metering. Our solar generation zeroed out our usage, and we produced a bit extra on top. Going to take 15 or more years to pay off the investment, unless electric prices rise.
Well let’s see…beaches, mountains, forests, deserts, lots of jobs, summer in January, great universities. California has it all…but you’d better have solar.
my main reason for solar. price of engergy is only likely go up. even if we get fusion power, engery price not go lower. it's expensive now, imagine 10 or 20 years later
8 to 10 year payback is great. Solar panels and batteries should last 25 years or so (with some degradation) so think of it this way: you pay for 8 to 10 years and then the next 15 years your total electricity costs are ZERO. And that doesn't figure in the rising electrical rates. I was going to add 14 more panels to the 37 I already have (we live in Palm Springs where the A/C runs 24 hours a day in the summer) but we will be putting in two Powerwalls (or equivalent) before adding more panels.
Don’t believe that Energy Sage will give you the best price. I got quotes from ~10 companies (only some of them from Energy Sage). It turned out for 10kw and a Powerwall 3 Energy Sage was not the least cost by close to $10k.
In IL. Grandfathered in to 1-1kw pricing with comed for next 25yrs. So I feel good with my net metering selection. Reduces my ebill in first month and I should easily bank solar credits for winter use. Not Tesla provided.
Why did you think a 4 kW system would be enough? Especially if you’re charging an EV at home? Did you derive that conclusion on your own, or did you ask a solar consultant to analyze your usage and design a right-sized system for you?
Your roof size is very limited for larger size solar. The new TOU plan, you’ll need larger size perhaps cover 120% of your annual usage to cover your actual usage. Yes, you can go larger by utilize less ideal roof area such as northern facing side of roof. New building code in your area (Irvine?) your are trying to put everything into electricity. (Gasoline car) utilities companies in CA is almost like Monopoly without regulation. With your roof size is like mission impossible and I hope you knew that by now.
What about your cybertruck Powershare? I have mine installed and it is the equivalent of 9 powerwalls. With your new powerwalls you don't need the Gateway 3V. It should just work...
Chris, great video, thank you! Question, you're original 4kw Solar system was with net metering 1 to 1, NEM 1.0. Then when Edison changed to NEM 3.0 net metering, weren't you grandfathered with version NEM 1? Our power rates in Washington state are much cheaper so I don't have Solar yet. My goal has been to get Solar before our Utility adopts NEM 3.0 but if there is no grandfathering?????
@@EverydayChris thanks for the reply. So that's why you wish you had put in a bigger system from the beginning. If you don't change your system, grandfather sticks? I still think your money ahead waiting. Panels are 60% less $$ and Batteries are crashing $$ as we speak. You may even want to wait a little longer for the Batteries!
Love the numbers and data, super helpful, thank you! Our house came with non-tesla solar panels, we're in the same situation where our bill is $200-300/mo. We've been looking into a powerwall, but still not sure if it is worth the investment as we don't plan to be in our current home for many more years
Last year we had 6.4 kW enphase solar installed with NEM 2 grid tie. No battery. We have heat pump and induction stove. I think our ROI is going to be about 10 years. I'm not interested in solar battery until the technology stabilizes.
Idea for a video because I can’t seem to find ANY on TH-cam. How teslas hold up in HEAVY traffic. I’m about to buy my first EV ( 2024 model y ) and coming from an ICE vehicle, I am concerned about using tesla to go to, say Atlanta, and it says I need to charge 15 min to make it to the next stop with 20% battery, only to hit downtown traffic and be stuck for *6 hours*. Oddly enough I can’t find any videos on how EV’s do in heavy traffic, all I can seem to find are videos showing off autopilot in traffic.
@@EverydayChris very good video, charge on solar feature is also a plus, I live in NorCal Bay Area, I’m on the permit step through Tesla getting 8.91kw + 2 powerwall 3’s.
I can't believe how expensive solar panels are in the US. 13kW system in Australia with an inverter would cost around $8000.00 AUD. That's about 15 bucks American 😂😂😂😂
Can you use a Cybertruck as a Powerwall? I would think so as long as you have it parked at your house between 4pm and 9pm. Infact you can get your free electriciry at the supercharger and power your home for free😊😊😊
So the reason why your electric bill changed when you went to the new power provider was because they don’t do a solar true up. If you compare it annually the difference isn’t much difference
Literally panels cost about for 12kwh is a out 4 grand delivered. Hardware install about 1-1.5K inverter about 3-5K and labor and other stuff about 2-3K. Solar companies are a rip off.
My personal idea, it isn’t a good time to buy solar panel and powerwall. Solar does help you for generate electricity which is good but the problem is battery. Every mins you don’t use produced electricity will be wasted 75% value to the grid, battery will help but only 13.5kwh which is tooo tooo less. You need a lot (means it) battery to replace NEM2 system which you will never find breakeven point. Moreover battery is 10 years lifetime and will start degrade. As my idea I have heard that CATL from China is making better performance with cheaper battery. It is about the time and politic that which one will come to us first, cheap battery or crazy bill from Edison😅
I priced out Tesla and 4 power walls and I cancelled my order, since I was told my solar fraction was only going to be 41%. That was before my electric provider decided it was going to raise my rates 22% over the next 3 years. Ugggghhhh, it's always something.
$6K for 4kW? After tax credit? The f I am getting a quote for 13K for 9kW in Texas today. TOU plan will allow me to pay 5 cents per kW for the rest if I can avoid the peak hours using the batteries.
1powerwall 1.5 days, - it is because you are in California. In Houston it wouldn't last even 6 hours. Heavy AC usage. I would get honestly if I was you at least 2 powerwalls. Where you gonna store that energy when you are not home and cars not connected? Right, you will give it away for dirt cheap.
If you are out of solar from weather (clouds), then it's likely not summer, and there's minimal if any AC. In summer, your solar runs for much more of the day. Anyhow, house size and many other factors affect battery sizing and the given number is for a standard home. Once you have a system designed, an actual number of batteries for the particular home and the desired length of protection is produced. You can even say if you plan to tone down usage or if your usage is mandatory when doing it.
@@EverydayChris 1 power wall is about 11kwh usable energy if you only want to deplete down to 20%. You need to look at your usage as see what it is from when the sun goes down until the sun comes back up. I have 28.6kwh battery and it charges to 100% around 2pm and drops down to 60% before the sun comes out the next morning. That's about 12 kwh a day for 1200 home in San Diego summer. We use AC. % drops down more if we run a load of clothes. I definitely think you will need 2 power walls, maybe 3 or more based on your usage and size of system. We only get 1.1c per kwh so it's basically wasted if sent back to the grid. You doing want to send back if you don't have to. Our nighttime cost is 13c but it's best to use what you generate. Otherwise you are spending money.
my system of 38 panels produces around 75-95 kw a day at best, teslas throttling the inverters i use to average 12-14kw peak production and now its at 11 kw at best huge dissapointment.. drop after the first 4 months. best production was 105 kw a day so if you do the math. I charge around 65 kw a day for my model 3 house uses around 20 a day frugally. I have a cybertruck which needs around 120 kw a day. I pull power from pge with my mothers senior discount and it takes us from .65kw => under .25-.30 off peak
Interested in Solar? Get Free Quotes
‣ www.energysage.com/p/everydaychris/
Build a off grid system only, don’t become a generator. Batteries and 8800 watts solar, 16kw preferably. You can build a pergola and put solar on it. This will low your bill to 100 to 0 dollars a month depending on solar and battery size and time of the year assuming your using a max of 60kw per day. One place to start looking for controllers and solar is Signature solar. For 8800 watt solar and 12kw controller plus all hardware is around 16K if you DYI it. Also no generator license needed.
Would be great if solar panels can just cover my pool. I don’t use the pool at all.
Always amazes me- talks about $20k solar investment with a $100k cybertruck. One message - sensible financial wisdom
Who told you 4kW is enough?! 🤣 Geez thats undersized. Just throw some panels on the ground or make a permit free ground mount. Southern California is just horrible. Cant believe nem 3.0. idk why people live there still. Glad I moved
$.61!! Holy cow
NEM 3.0 seems like a scam
I was thinking the same thing. Why would he have thought 4kw was a large enough system? Even without an EV.
@@wuwei473Most power companies are trying to do the same to Net Metering. In 5-10 yes, 1-1 net metering will be gone.
It could be a nice little offset to your power bill, even if it doesn't cover the whole thing
I viewed Solar and a battery (7.56kWh solar PV and Tesla Powewall) as an investment in my home and now I am rewarded by a much cheaper electricity bill. we have an Air Source Heat Pump, all electric household for cooking as well as lawn mowers and home use. Ev only so no Petrol/gas bills. In UK and total monthly bill is less than £90 per month.
Yup that’s how you make it economical.
Move the hell out of California it’s a ripoff.
I’m in TX. When Beryl hit we lost power and my house was the only one with powerwalls. We didn’t even notice til the Facebook group blew up. Some houses didn’t get electricity for 3-4 days. Batteries are so worth it. You use them every day unlike a generator
Batteries are limited. Paying $70K for solar and a couple of power walls is insane considering that an $800 generator makes more power and will run 4 days on $60 bucks in gas. Point is that with the 2 days of cloudy weather after the storm passed, solar was damn near useless.
We have family in Texas. They went through the Snowpocolipse a few years ago. People were literally dying trying to keep their house warm. Their neighbor's pipes froze and burst, and did not have running water for 10 days. Sun came out on day 2. If they would have had solar and Powerwalls they could have stayed nice and warm the whole time.
@@JBoy340a Electricity IS THE WORST way to heat a space. Resistance heaters are terribly inefficient and power hungry. Again, spending $30-$40 thousand dollars for power walls and another $20-$30 thousand for installed solar just to stay warm for a few days every 5 years is just nuts. Get a generator and enough gas storage for 3 days and a little diesel heater and for less than $700 you're prepared for pretty much all disasters.
@@arthurfoyt6727 my whole set up with solar and 2 powerwalls cost $32k. Which is cheaper than a car. Plus I haven’t paid an electric bill in two years so it pays for itself.
@@johnnywang206 ONE Tesla Powerwall 3 lists for $15,300 (before taxes).
TWO powerwalls + panels + installation for $32K? Not buying that.
Also not buying that you're running a whole house with A/C and heat on solar year round.
I’m in Australia, (plenty of sunshine) I have a 2022 Model 3 RWD and I have a 17kw Solar Edge solar system with two 10 kw Solar Edge batteries. It’s still not enough for my family. We use between 60kw and 105kw per day.
Your Edison cost graph is for commercial rates at $0.25/kwh. My residential rate for 2nd tier Edison is $0.43/KWH, almost twice as high.
So glad we got 8.4kW and 1 powerwall in 2022!!! Sorry man! The powerwall really helps us save a ton by avoiding peak rates entirely here on SDGE. We went with Tesla Solar direct, it was by far the cheapest and they’ve been solid with our install, zero hardware issues. Just one bad firmware update took it offline for a few hours, that’s it.
Are you using the battery very day to avoid paying higher energy rates? If so, how is the battery holding up, degradation-wise.
@@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403 yes it is used daily from 4pm onward. Depending on how much ac we use it lasts more or less time, but I’ve never tested it for degradation because our usage on the whole house backup varies every day. It definitely covers our needs on our 1800sqft house that is 100% electric, zero gas.
You would want your battery degraded as fast as possible by 7th, 8th year from now. Tesla will replace a better battery with better battery technology like Solid State one.
@@Radium3DI have a 9.1Kw system installed back in 2018 and have been considering getting 2 PW. Do you fully charge and discharge the PW daily? Is the PW charge to 100% daily or like the cars and up to 80%? I'm under SDG&E and with the price increase, I am considering of getting the PW and not adding panels because I don't want to switch to NEM 3.0
I got installed a 13.365 system with Tesla and one Powerwall 3 with Tesla. The only things that still bothers me is that they bought up from your ownership for SRECs credits for half of the cost. Other than that, I will see how it goes since I two weeks old solar owner.
Other than Tesla the quote from other solar companies is negotiable. I was able to reduce my quote from Sunrun by $500. Also when working with an installer you have to think if that company will still be around for 25yrs which is the usual warranty period. I have my PV panels for 8 years now and I already replaced the inverter and 1 optimizer.
Great video! I have a 15 KW Tesla system, with two Tesla PW3's. The one major problem I have is with Tesla customer service, unreachable and extremely slow!!
Yeah still not the best lol
@@EverydayChrissame as the car
I TOTALLY agree about Tesla cust. serv. It's a good thing their product works fairly well, because cust. serv. is NON-EXISTENT. 😜😜😆😆
I would categorize Tesla Energy customer service as horrible, one of the worst of any business in the States.
Once the missing gas tax starts to hurt the gov'ts budget you can bet they will find a way to recoup that money by raising electricity rates, cost for using the public roads, more tolls, car ownership tax, etc, etc, etc.
So weird to see your solar app without a Powerwall icon on the left side of the house since we have a Powerwall. You get used to seeing what you look at and then without the PW it looks so different. With the Powewall, you see energy flow from the solar to the PW, PW to the house (windows) and from the grid to the box in the middle
My Tesla Solar is rated 4.8kW panels with one Power Wall. Got a model Y, single story house 1700 sqft. Plenty enough to charge the ev and power the house. Off the grid at night, thanks to the power wall. I got no true-up and get credit from day one. But you will need to be mindful of usage otherwise you can go over or end up with true-up. Also with the rolling blackouts, power wall helps a lot. My PG&E bill average is $70 without credit, with credit $30 and that is gas only and including interconnection of $10 from the grid.
Wow that’s not bad
Your opening hook on this video is so good! I love the foreshadowing!
Haha ty!
You should also calculate your break-even point and how much money you could make investing it rather than owning solar.
By my calculations, it'll take you over 10 years to break even... if you invest that money and account for future inflation, it'll take you over 15 years.
If you don't use the electricity you're producing then yes, it will take forever. But @EverydayChris has multiple EVs, and more electrical appliances in his home. Not to mention if you add a heat pump HVAC and anything else heat pump, then your savings are multiplied because HP are naturally energy savers. Please don't say HP don't work in extreme heat or cold because that's a myth and has been proven wrong. People stop thinking of solar/battery as a good way to "sell" energy to the grid to make money. It's now a race to get the right hardware to make your own energy and stop paying ridiculous rising prices.
Please provide us with a follow-up once your new/bigger system is completed. I started with a 4kW system as well and have been thinking of adding/upgrading as well.
Everyday Chris always killing it. Love the videos.
My bill is 423.00 to 550.00 a month. I went solar / tesla system . Just got it put in and I haven’t seen a difference just yet because it’s barely been installed 8-27-2024. I hope it’s gonna provide some financial relief
My Edison bills are around the same amount. Please let us know what are your results.
How big is your house? Jeez that’s a lot
I believe also this is considered an improvement to your house that you will have a tax credit (cost of improvements) when you sell your house
I also went solar back in 2016 and sized my unit to my annual power consumption for 2015. I agree with you regarding sizing it for future expansion. Post solar, we used the A/C more and added a hot tub which ended up with a $5,000 true up bill. My typical monthly solar bill was $125 on a 3,000 sqft home. I added more solar and informed my solar provider I wanted to be 180% of my max energy annual consumption in 2018. My new solar bill is the $125 + $215 which makes me 180% of my annual power consumption. I can add 2 or 3 EVs. My wife and I have decided not to buy an EV. Why? What would anyone say if they were going to buy a gasoline powered car and the dealer informed them the engine would 100% fail at 200,000 miles? Many would logically look elsewhere for a more dependable vehicle. Well, EVs suffer that same predicament. Although many EV manufacturer's warranty their batteries for 8 years, I've seen reports that the original 2007 Tesla Roadsters have failed battery packs by 15 years. These owners have sought to repair them with a sticker shock of over $15,000 and a waiting period of 3 years. And as for being environmentally friendly, the mining of lithium, cobalt and nickel uses diesel powered equipment vastly undermining the environment. I also googled the composition of the atmosphere and according to NASA and NOAA, the air is comprised of 78% N2 gas, 21% O2 gas, 1% other. The 1% other is 0.98% argon and what amount is CO2? CO2 is 0.042 % and what of that is human contribution? Ten percent of that 0.042% which means humans contribute 0.0042%. I graduated from the University of Alabama College of Engineering and looked at the fan capacity of Bryant Denny Stadium which is 101,241. So, the 0.0042% would mean 4 people out of the 101,241 jam packed fans in the stadium is Carbon Dioxide. This is crazy and leads me to believe it is a ploy to make money.
Here's a Tesla model S customer complaining about a $22,000 battery replacement. I am a car guy and I still have my 2000 Chevrolet Suburban purchased new in 2000. It is as of October 4, 2024; 24 years old and has 348,000 miles. Still runs great. I change the transmission fluid every 100,000 miles and oil every 4,000 miles. I have a 2009 Cadillac CTS and was informed the transmission fluid is sealed so I never changed it. Well, I drove it with my son to his college in Tucson. It failed on us when we arrived. It had 228,000 miles and was 11 years old then. The transmission place charged me $5,000 and got the transmission installed in 2 weeks. This is definitely much faster than the 2007 Tesla Roadster wait period of 3 years. Oh, once I got me Cadillac back home in Northern California, I drove it for Lyft and made $20,000 in 1-1/2 years. Got back my money for the repairs and it runs great with no check engine light. I learned my lesson, Change transmission fluid every 100,000 miles and oil every 4,000 miles and the vehicle will last forever.
th-cam.com/video/T7Q0nNkQTCo/w-d-xo.htmlsi=_tBL5uA8q3pn_G9Z
This is a super helpful video and well explained! I’m thinking about getting solar too because those SCE rates are going crazy!
Thanks Jeannie!
I got 9.6kw Tesl solar panels for one year and one MY ,And a good months I just paid 22 dlls every 2 months, plus I got 150 dlls credit ,first they told I just need 18 panels but I requested 24 panels. Without powerwall ,my production is more even charging my EV night time 😊. I just paid 16k after almost 6k credit
Ouch. 4kW is really small. in 2020 we got 12.75 kW solarroof and 2 powerwalls. We needed another new tile roof (second in 22 years, grrr) and the cost of the Solarroof was about the same as a new tile roof. We are in NorCal and since getting the solarroof and powerwall have no net powerbills for the year. We also participate in the Tesla Virtual Powerplant Program(VPP) that resulted in a $250 check last year and $400 the year before.
With our rates jumping from $0.18 in 2015 to $0.42 per peak kWh now we are really glad we spent the money. Plus in the outages we have had we, and our neighbors a couple houses down with a different battery system, are the only ones with lights and AC.
My biggest complaint of Tesla solar is that it does not have a system that lets me use the 150 kWh (X and 3) from out Telsa vehicle batteries. So if the power goes out with several cloudy days in a row we will have an issue keeping the home going, but we can drive anywhere.
Thanks for the tip. We won’t make the same mistake again haha
Tesla bi-directional charging is coming so you can power your house from the Tesla EVs in 2-3 years!
@@tonylin6708 I hope so. I think the cyber truck can do V2H to a degree. But I don’t need a truck.
The problem is not your solar. The problem is your Tesla car. They do not do vehicle to load, vehicle to home or vehicle to grid. Most other EVs already have at least vehicle to load which allows running a few appliances from the car battery. Tesla is way behind in this.
What do you think caused this problem in CA?
Don’t feel bad. I have 3.78kw subscpriton solar with LADWP. Bill is about $1700.00
Wow, panels itself become cheaper but system become twice expensive, that is interesting math from installers
I have 13kw+2 PW which enough for me to cover all my electricity last year including charging my Model Y every night which consume 30K miles last year. That is all electric bills + my gasoline bills. I got a 30 years loan to cover that at 5%. It is super cheap because I am living in North Cal which electric bill is insane high at $0.62 at peak, $0.51 at part peak and 0.31 at off peak. Those 2 PW was the best investment I had for last year, period. My Sep PG&E bill is $14.95. Yeah, I also changed my gas stove to Induction burners.
return on investment is more than 10 years. tax credits only work on those that owe taxes. those that get refunds usually don't qualify for credits. to avoid permits, i'm building separate off grid solar for my pool pumps/heater and my EV. spend the rest on energy efficient appliances (hybrid water heater and variable speed heat pump), reinsulate attic and seal the house. also replaced 15 year old roof with metal and added solar vents.
We put 6.8kw of solar up 5 years ago because we were always in tier 2 and I knew power was going up astronomically. The system has pretty much paid itself off, and the increasing power prices have helped. I wish we'd done a battery bank, especially the last couple years with all the fires and power outages.
Really interesting video to see how solar works in CA - a whole different world.
We are in MT. 14 cents/KWH, no time of day rates - always 14cent/KWH. Net metering always provides 14 cents/KWH for each KWH you send out to the grid.
If you send as much out to the grid as you use, the only bill is a $5 per month admin fee.
No real incentive at all to have a power wall type battery except for power outages, and a generator is much cheaper.
We power our house and a Tesla MY on a 7200 watt array that I built myself - about $12K at today's prices for the whole system before the 30% tax credit.
So, for those discouraged by Chris's high price tag, depending on where you live there might be a way to do it a log cheaper.
Wow
I just looked at my electric company it’s 11.3cents a kW. No time of day usage for now as long as people from CA don’t overload our system moving here
In Southern California, outside of the summer months, we generate enough surplus power to supply electricity to the house for a summer month. Don’t let anyone tell you that you won’t generate surplus power outside of the summer months.
You won’t generate surplus power outside of the summer months if you live anywhere along the gulf coast or eastern USA. SoCal? yea, spending crazy money on a huge solar collector is less crazy.
@@arthurfoyt6727 There is legislation being circulated in Sacramento that you will no longer receive a 1:1 credit for the excess electricity generated during the day. The credit could be as low as 25%.
Thank you so much for this video! Extremely helpful!
You’re welcome! I know you’re in the market for it as well!! Def go for it! :)
Thank goodness I opted out and refused to switch to one of SCE's TOU plans. I'm still on the standard tiered system, and also still grandfathered in the original net metering structure so I get that 1:1 $ when I put energy back to the grid. That being said, we now have 2 EV's in our household so yeah, our end of year cost has gone way up.
The TOU Prime which is "supposed" to be cheaper for EV owners computes to an extra $1k+ a year due to the peak usage costs.
Oh, and here's the saddest thing. Charging at a Tesla Supercharger is actually cheaper than me charging at home....
My tiered rate for tier 2 (which I hit pretty quick with 2 EV's) is $0.42kWh, while charging at a SC can be anywhere from $0.28 to $0.40kWh. That's sad...
So yes, we are planning on adding a Tesla Powerwall to our 8.9Kw system sometime in the not-too-distant future, at which time I can switch to TOU Prime, with the plan of the PW powering the house during those 5 hour peak times, essentially making all my electricity cost $0.25kWh, about 44% less. Unless I have to switch to NM 3 (2?, whichever the new crappy one is), then just adding a few more panels might be best for me instead of adding a PW. Or maybe do both. Ugh...
It will be rough when you need to replace the roof
Yes
I know a few people who got screwed for that.
That's why you need a relatively new roof to reduce the chance
I don't know if its going to be rough...Solar in Los Angeles area has become more common now...there are more and more roofers who are getting to know how to take down solar panels, since CA requires new home developments to come with solar. The infrastructure used to hold up the panels have become so "standard" that a roofer should be able to take it apart and put it back together easily. I got Tesla solar and most of the roofers that came to install mine were former roofers. It only took them half a day to install everything.
fix roof first and yes been there and done that too
0:35 Dude, 32 cents/kwh is high! You would think it would be cheaper in SoCal with so much sun. In Central Texas I have been paying consistently less than 12 cents/kwh for the past two years, flat rate with no time of use pricing. In Greater Boston, Massachusetts, where I previously owned a home, I was paying 34 cents/kwh. And don't get me started with 2:36 ==> 61 cents/kwh is INSANE. Solar is a must. I look forward to following your adventures in energy sovereignty.
I'm moving to Texas
@@EverydayChris Seriously!?! That's awesome! Make a video on it, please!
Yep I’m in Central Texas and only getting panels + powerwall for backup. It’s a pretty expensive insurance policy in case power goes out, but I can’t afford to have any WiFi downtime since I work from home.
@@VishalRaoOnTH-cam Nice! Same thing in New Mexicom about .12 p/kw. If you have an EV, electric company charges .04 for off peak hours. Solar installs here have a pay out of 10-15 years. It is not worth the investment for my area.
Shout out to my friends at Trout Electric. Great people Matt is awesome 👌
I've had solar for 12yrs. 11-12mo per year Ive paid $8/mi til a few yrs ago. Now, 10-11mo/year i still pay $12-14/mo. I have an 8kwatt system.
I purchased a 9kw system under the NEM 2.0 here in Socal under SCE. I spec’d to over produce a bit since I planned to grow my family but over estimated the amount of miles I was going to drive my Tesla EV. I looked into a powerwall at that time it was not worth it on the ROI (there was no ROI) even with NEM 3.0 I don’t believe there is any ROI but I never done the math because I didn’t need to. I currently under produce during the summer months when the AC is in heavy use and over produce during the non summer months. I also charge my EV during the day time when solar is producing to utilized as much as the solar instead of sending it to the grid. This reduces my non recoverable charge of about 5 cents per kWh whenever I use from the grid, which is what I would have to pay if I charged at night. Last year on my true up date, I had about $500 credit accumulated for the 12 month period.
I’m still grandfathered in on NEM 1.0. Though, I’m also on a 4kw system. A little difficult to justify Powerwall. By now, (13 years), I’ve paid off my original solar panels, so maybe it’s time to upgrade!
Get rid of the TOU plan. I live in the OC and just use regular rates. Still .33kwh whenever I use it. Still too high but no worrying about when I use it like TOU plan.
The bottom line is 31 cent per kWh after taxes and fees. Currently, there is no peak/off peak rates. They are starting to install new meters.
32 cents is very cheap for 4-9pm! My area is 65 cents before electricity delivery fee. And actually, If you install everything yourself, a powerwall money can build 16000Kw solar panel. The 0s are correct number.
Thank you for making this video. Been in many discussions on X with folks trying to explain how CA new NEM 3.0 and changes in billing has made it difficult to jump to an EV when you charge at home. My neighbor ended up with a $3000 true up bill after getting a Tesla and charging it at home at night.
You charge at superchargers too!!! lol, we are the same, we are both frugal with our spending. 😅😂🤣
@@UTECHPIA we also charge at Superchargers often. There are 10 locations within 10 miles of the house colocated with food and shopping. It is just too convenient to pass up.
hahah
CPUC is run by special interest groups and OCPA is a special interest group that identifies as a power company. I installed 4kw in 2014 for $10k after tax credit; charged a Model S 50k miles and NO electricity bill all the way until 2021 when they killed net metering and rates changed like CRAZY... instantly $0 to about $1.5k a year. Fortunately had full ROI on that, but wasn't thrilled to need to spend $11k adding 5.5kw to hopefully hold off the electricity bills.
An EV driving 10k miles/yr, is about 3MWH per year. So, you may need to add that to annual generation capacity for solar plan... but, for me, since I am ToU rates and my solar points in afternoon (peak rates) sun, cost-wise (not $) I am still break-even. SO, .. it depends.
Note using powerwall to charge overnight won't work... car is 6x bigger battery than powerwall.
Appreciate the transparency and details
In FL electric is only 13.5 cents a Kilowatt. Solar companies here want to sell you a flat rate for electricity while they own your solar panels. That gets complicated when you try to sell your house. I would only buy solar outright if I were to do it. I am going to make an off grid RV in my back yard so I can have free solar without dealing with electric company. There are always ways to get around regulations that restrict our sovereignty. 😊
I have two arrays. The first came with our new house. Long story short, we leased the panels - bad mistake for our situation. I think it was also a 4kw system. Added more panels before NEM3. So now we have 35 total panels on two systems, SunPower and Enphase. Size wise it’s fine with 3 EVs. But we don’t charge all the time at home. Sometimes the rates are superchargers are cheaper even with solar. And I tend to plan errands with charging. I want to look into batteries next. Might do Powerwalls or Enphase batteries. Edison billing is so confusing. I don’t get it 🤷🏻♂️ wish we can go with a different company or go totally off grid which is “not allowed”.
Crazy prices. In The Netherlands we have too much solar power during the summer days. This results in negative energy prices so you get paid to charge your car, do laundry etc.
Good video. Question, are surge suppressors installed in your system? Where I live in the Pacific Northwest our utility electricity is prone to voltage spikes. These spikes often damage electronic equipment. I just installed 14 KW of solar and a Powerwall but no surge suppressors were included.
Love your videos ❤
Biggest mistake is living in Cali. I salute you for enduring their policies in regards to energy it is brutal. Here in FL i pay about 13cents a KwH i cant even fathom the cali prices. 😮
tesla honestly needs to allow all their cars to act as a powerwalls when it is needed.Another thing they need to do, - come up with a module so it can charge from split phase generator or maybe even single phase generator. I have 12kWh system, around 14k kWh generation in a year (houston). But in the cloudy darky days generation from the whole array just around 6kWh. I even had couple of days when generation was 2-3kWh. I mean I can adjust my lifestyle to the weather. I can run laundry and dryer when it is plenty of generation. But with my model 3 I'd say that it is not enough energy. I cannot charge my car during the day cause I am at work. But I don't want to have 10 powerwalls ... So probably the best idea would be to have silent diesel generator on the backyard, which can kick in during bad days and charge the powerwalls in 1-2h. But for sure California not gonna like those solutions.
and btw we have here in Houston "free nights" from 8pm to 5 am. Totally free energy without delivery. Not sure for how long it will last. But what is cool about it, - that I can charge everything during those hours (including powerwalls) and I can give up for free my solar generation during the day (not looking for profit).
Exactly, the Cybertruck needs to be used as a giant power wall and install inverters for the other models
@@EverydayChris I think it is a joker in Elon's back pocket to enable that feature. But probably it is not right time yet. But I feel he will do it eventually. Sooner or later.
I have noticed other companies charges new owner fee.
If previous owner left you with their solar but for new owner solar company such as Enphase charges new owner fee. I thjnk this is ridiculous
Very informative, thank you
It’s all relative. If you lease panels, make sure you read the fine print, some of them you can make a lump sum payment and get rid of the monthly cost. Powerwalls are not the only battery system you can install, I have Enphase everything, but there are other options as well. Make sure you know how to use your system to save during peak times, if you are just letting the panels and the batteries do their own thing it maybe costing you. Set your charging at a lower amp rate if you can to maximize the use of you panels and batteries. I’m glad I have solar, it takes some of the load off of our overall costs for all of our electricity use. If we didn’t have solar and batteries, our bills would be through the roof!
I'm looking at installing 60 x 440W of solar panels with batteries and inverter, I'm told this will get us off grid...
Kudos on 80k subs
Ty!
I pay 600 per month average on my electric bills without solar…255 for u is still cheap w solar
I can't see how anybody can still justify living in California. You are so abused by your state government. We pay 9-11 cents / kWh
i think it is only 14 cents here in tulsa ok
Democrats man... They can't see past their nose
Same, 10c /KwH here in Eugene Oregon, and we're have solar with net metering. Our solar generation zeroed out our usage, and we produced a bit extra on top.
Going to take 15 or more years to pay off the investment, unless electric prices rise.
Well let’s see…beaches, mountains, forests, deserts, lots of jobs, summer in January, great universities. California has it all…but you’d better have solar.
10c here in TX.
my main reason for solar. price of engergy is only likely go up. even if we get fusion power, engery price not go lower. it's expensive now, imagine 10 or 20 years later
8 to 10 year payback is great. Solar panels and batteries should last 25 years or so (with some degradation) so think of it this way: you pay for 8 to 10 years and then the next 15 years your total electricity costs are ZERO. And that doesn't figure in the rising electrical rates. I was going to add 14 more panels to the 37 I already have (we live in Palm Springs where the A/C runs 24 hours a day in the summer) but we will be putting in two Powerwalls (or equivalent) before adding more panels.
LoL Im off the grid wuth 21000w of pannels. 72 kwh's of batteries in ca. 35k in parts 8 years ago. Pay off was 3 years ago.
Don’t believe that Energy Sage will give you the best price. I got quotes from ~10 companies (only some of them from Energy Sage). It turned out for 10kw and a Powerwall 3 Energy Sage was not the least cost by close to $10k.
Interesting. So good idea to also independently call local companies rated on yelp
How about we take apart of model 3 for cheaper battery and resell other parts and spare parts. Its way cheaper battery prices. 😅
In IL. Grandfathered in to 1-1kw pricing with comed for next 25yrs. So I feel good with my net metering selection. Reduces my ebill in first month and I should easily bank solar credits for winter use. Not Tesla provided.
Why did you think a 4 kW system would be enough? Especially if you’re charging an EV at home? Did you derive that conclusion on your own, or did you ask a solar consultant to analyze your usage and design a right-sized system for you?
does upgrading your system move you to nem 3?
Your roof size is very limited for larger size solar. The new TOU plan, you’ll need larger size perhaps cover 120% of your annual usage to cover your actual usage. Yes, you can go larger by utilize less ideal roof area such as northern facing side of roof. New building code in your area (Irvine?) your are trying to put everything into electricity. (Gasoline car) utilities companies in CA is almost like Monopoly without regulation. With your roof size is like mission impossible and I hope you knew that by now.
Yikes! My off peak rate (all day/night except 3-8pm) is $.04/kWh in New Mexico. I can charge my M3LR from 0-100% for about $3. Never moving to CA.
It's like range with an EV, always get the most you can afford as to future proof.
What about your cybertruck Powershare? I have mine installed and it is the equivalent of 9 powerwalls. With your new powerwalls you don't need the Gateway 3V. It should just work...
Chris, great video, thank you! Question, you're original 4kw Solar system was with net metering 1 to 1, NEM 1.0. Then when Edison changed to NEM 3.0 net metering, weren't you grandfathered with version NEM 1? Our power rates in Washington state are much cheaper so I don't have Solar yet. My goal has been to get Solar before our Utility adopts NEM 3.0 but if there is no grandfathering?????
Yeah mine 2.0 was grandfathered!
@@EverydayChris thanks for the reply. So that's why you wish you had put in a bigger system from the beginning. If you don't change your system, grandfather sticks? I still think your money ahead waiting. Panels are 60% less $$ and Batteries are crashing $$ as we speak. You may even want to wait a little longer for the Batteries!
Love the numbers and data, super helpful, thank you! Our house came with non-tesla solar panels, we're in the same situation where our bill is $200-300/mo. We've been looking into a powerwall, but still not sure if it is worth the investment as we don't plan to be in our current home for many more years
Enegy cost gauranteed to go up a lot more as California approved offshore wind energy to supplement types of energy production.
Last year we had 6.4 kW enphase solar installed with NEM 2 grid tie. No battery. We have heat pump and induction stove. I think our ROI is going to be about 10 years. I'm not interested in solar battery until the technology stabilizes.
LFP batteries have 8000 cycles, they last long now. Although you won't really get ROI with battery on nem 2. You would only get it if you want backup.
“Who thinks about this?” I do. I think about this a lot
Idea for a video because I can’t seem to find ANY on TH-cam. How teslas hold up in HEAVY traffic. I’m about to buy my first EV ( 2024 model y ) and coming from an ICE vehicle, I am concerned about using tesla to go to, say Atlanta, and it says I need to charge 15 min to make it to the next stop with 20% battery, only to hit downtown traffic and be stuck for *6 hours*.
Oddly enough I can’t find any videos on how EV’s do in heavy traffic, all I can seem to find are videos showing off autopilot in traffic.
its better than normal driving. Traffic increases your range like crazy
@@EverydayChristhat’s reassuring to hear! I figured it’d do the opposite with running hvac and all. Ty for the feedback!
I need at least 15kw in NJ my monthly bill is about $400 /$600 average
Another positive you didn’t mention is VPP, Tesla virtual power plan sessions
Oooo good one
@@EverydayChris very good video, charge on solar feature is also a plus, I live in NorCal Bay Area, I’m on the permit step through Tesla getting 8.91kw + 2 powerwall 3’s.
I can't believe how expensive solar panels are in the US. 13kW system in Australia with an inverter would cost around $8000.00 AUD. That's about 15 bucks American 😂😂😂😂
Can you use a Cybertruck as a Powerwall? I would think so as long as you have it parked at your house between 4pm and 9pm. Infact you can get your free electriciry at the supercharger and power your home for free😊😊😊
So the reason why your electric bill changed when you went to the new power provider was because they don’t do a solar true up. If you compare it annually the difference isn’t much difference
Literally panels cost about for 12kwh is a out 4 grand delivered. Hardware install about 1-1.5K inverter about 3-5K and labor and other stuff about 2-3K. Solar companies are a rip off.
My personal idea, it isn’t a good time to buy solar panel and powerwall.
Solar does help you for generate electricity which is good but the problem is battery. Every mins you don’t use produced electricity will be wasted 75% value to the grid, battery will help but only 13.5kwh which is tooo tooo less. You need a lot (means it) battery to replace NEM2 system which you will never find breakeven point.
Moreover battery is 10 years lifetime and will start degrade. As my idea I have heard that CATL from China is making better performance with cheaper battery. It is about the time and politic that which one will come to us first, cheap battery or crazy bill from Edison😅
4kW is crazy...never would have been enough.
the bill you show is for the year right? seems like your solar is doing well for you.
I priced out Tesla and 4 power walls and I cancelled my order, since I was told my solar fraction was only going to be 41%. That was before my electric provider decided it was going to raise my rates 22% over the next 3 years. Ugggghhhh, it's always something.
$6K for 4kW? After tax credit? The f
I am getting a quote for 13K for 9kW in Texas today. TOU plan will allow me to pay 5 cents per kW for the rest if I can avoid the peak hours using the batteries.
Also need to see if you get any shade on panels. If you do then micro inverters should be considered
How long does it take to charge your CYBERTRUCK
Can you buy powerwalls without the Tesla installation? Installation from Tesla is $7,200 for me while local installers are around $4k.
I use about 6000 kWh annual en I charge a model Y.
Have a 3.5 KW solar kit..
1powerwall 1.5 days, - it is because you are in California. In Houston it wouldn't last even 6 hours. Heavy AC usage. I would get honestly if I was you at least 2 powerwalls. Where you gonna store that energy when you are not home and cars not connected? Right, you will give it away for dirt cheap.
Dang. I hate how much it is but if we max it out we need 3 power walls
@@EverydayChris in the worst case scenario you can turn off main service and use cybertruck battery
@@EverydayChristhis is the way and then leverage PowerShare for max backup
If you are out of solar from weather (clouds), then it's likely not summer, and there's minimal if any AC. In summer, your solar runs for much more of the day.
Anyhow, house size and many other factors affect battery sizing and the given number is for a standard home. Once you have a system designed, an actual number of batteries for the particular home and the desired length of protection is produced. You can even say if you plan to tone down usage or if your usage is mandatory when doing it.
@@EverydayChris
1 power wall is about 11kwh usable energy if you only want to deplete down to 20%. You need to look at your usage as see what it is from when the sun goes down until the sun comes back up. I have 28.6kwh battery and it charges to 100% around 2pm and drops down to 60% before the sun comes out the next morning. That's about 12 kwh a day for 1200 home in San Diego summer. We use AC. % drops down more if we run a load of clothes.
I definitely think you will need 2 power walls, maybe 3 or more based on your usage and size of system. We only get 1.1c per kwh so it's basically wasted if sent back to the grid. You doing want to send back if you don't have to. Our nighttime cost is 13c but it's best to use what you generate. Otherwise you are spending money.
Sdge gots you beat. Peak is 67.5c and we only get 1.1c per kwh export.
I've been plying with solar for about 15 years no.
It's kinda fun but it's NEVER a cost savings. The real savings are simply reducing usage.
Does the cyber truck fit in your garage?
I did a video on it. It does but barely
my system of 38 panels produces around 75-95 kw a day at best, teslas throttling the inverters i use to average 12-14kw peak production and now its at 11 kw at best huge dissapointment.. drop after the first 4 months. best production was 105 kw a day so if you do the math. I charge around 65 kw a day for my model 3 house uses around 20 a day frugally. I have a cybertruck which needs around 120 kw a day. I pull power from pge with my mothers senior discount and it takes us from .65kw => under .25-.30 off peak