Elon Musk recently hinted at potentially increasing the Powerwall availability, thus accommodating tens of thousands of customers still waiting on their home energy storage unit.
Since the inception of Powerwall, demand has far exceeded supply and still does to this day. The demand is exceptionally high in the US and Australian markets, but production constraints prevent Tesla from meeting the necessary quotas. Elon Musk’s latest tweets suggest a relief might be just around the corner, although no exact date is given.
“Order a Tesla Powerwall battery for blackout protection!” Musk tweeted. His call to action coincided with recent electricity issues and blackouts in California, raising concerns that such problems were to persist. However, upon clicking on the link provided in the tweet, customers learn that they can still only get a Powerwall if they purchase Tesla solar panels to go along with it.
As a reminder, the demand for the Powerwall got so high at one point that Tesla simply had to stop taking orders for the home battery storage and instead packaged Powerwalls with solar power systems.
Since the initial tweet has received a lot of attention and sparked a great deal of curiosity over standalone Powerwalls, Musk had to intervene and post a follow-up tweet. “For now, supply is too low, but ordering a Powerwall by itself should be possible end of year,” Musk elaborated.
The follow-up tweet suggests that Tesla might finally ramp up the production of Powerwall units and meet the never-ending demand. Currently, the company is handling many solar installations, likely due to the fact it’s the only way to get a Powerwall for the time being.
The limited production of Powerwalls began in 2015. In 2017, Tesla started mass producing its photovoltaic cells at the Giga Nevada factory. From 2015 to 2020, Tesla deployed 100,000 Powerwalls and then doubled the output in 2020 alone, reaching 200,000 Powerwall installations by May 2021. Even with that spike in home battery storage production, Tesla currently faces a backlog of about 80,000 Powerwall orders.
By the end of the year, Tesla is expected to release new energy products and increase the supply of Powerwalls. Right now, the company is falling behind its main competitor, Enphase Energy, the largest supplier of home energy storage systems on the market, despite its battery units being 50% more expensive than Tesla’s.
