Is Elon Lowballing the Powerwall ???

The press is full of stories that the 10 kilowatt hour power wall will only cost $3,500.  They do add in small print that the cost of the inverter and the installation is extra.

Remember that a month ago I got the xcel spreadsheet from the CPUC on the SGIP plundering Tesla and its sister company Solar City are into.  The SGIP requires two hours of storage.  That is 10 kilowatt hours for a 5 kilowatt system.  In the spreadsheet there are over one hundred request for SGIP funds (our ratepayer funds) for 5 kw Tesla systems that have a stated “Total Eligible Cost” of $23,429.

I have to assume the “Total Eligible Cost” is the full cost of the installed system.  This equals $2,342.90 per kwh not $350 per kwh as Elon Musk claimed.  Perhaps Tesla and Solar City are padding the “eligible” costs under the SGIP to extract more money?  Perhaps the systems only cost $3,500 and receive $9,720 that the CPUC shows in the Current Incentive column of the spreadsheet.  Or perhaps Elon is hyping the Powerwall by Lowballing the real cost.  Either way some monkey business is going on as the data do not add up!

I like the name Powerwall but a better name would be Lower Ball as the Teslacle will soon drop.