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I'm talking about the economics and moat that Tesla has itself, with which the fact that the panels are a commodity matter a great deal. This makes Tesla a serv

by xkjkls 7y ago

I'm talking about the economics and moat that Tesla has itself, with which the fact that the panels are a commodity matter a great deal. This makes Tesla a servicing/financing company, and why do they have a systematic advantage at that over competition? That doesn't seem like a high margin business that is going to justify Tesla's lofty valuation (especially when their solar installations have gone down close to ~90% since the acquisition of SolarCity, and their competitors now have greater market share than they do).

omarforgotpwd 7y ago
One advantage they have is that they try and pre-assemble systems into fixed 4 kw systems that are easier to put together on site Another advantage they have is a very simple online ordering system -- try getting a quote for solar somewhere else vs ordering on Tesla.com another advantage they have is asthetics and also integration with the same app you use to control your car
- xkjkls 7y ago
  > Another advantage they have is a very simple online ordering system -- try getting a quote for solar somewhere else vs ordering on Tesla.com Is this really a long term advantage? One, producing a website to have simple online ordering is not a problem for any company on this sort of scale, and two, how big an advantage is this? This isn't a sort of purchase on a whim like a new book on Amazon, these are long term planning decisions for a given family. They're going to do the math and figure out what might actually be best for their electricity usage, home, and financial situation. Simple ordering isn't that huge of an advantage. > another advantage they have is asthetics Again, why is this something not easily copied? > and also integration with the same app you use to control your car Is this really that big an advantage? I don't know who is making multi-thousand dollar a year decisions based on this.

by xkjkls 7y ago

omarforgotpwd 7y ago

One advantage they have is that they try and pre-assemble systems into fixed 4 kw systems that are easier to put together on site Another advantage they have is a very simple online ordering system -- try getting a quote for solar somewhere else vs ordering on Tesla.com another advantage they have is asthetics and also integration with the same app you use to control your car

xkjkls 7y ago
> Another advantage they have is a very simple online ordering system -- try getting a quote for solar somewhere else vs ordering on Tesla.com Is this really a long term advantage? One, producing a website to have simple online ordering is not a problem for any company on this sort of scale, and two, how big an advantage is this? This isn't a sort of purchase on a whim like a new book on Amazon, these are long term planning decisions for a given family. They're going to do the math and figure out what might actually be best for their electricity usage, home, and financial situation. Simple ordering isn't that huge of an advantage. > another advantage they have is asthetics Again, why is this something not easily copied? > and also integration with the same app you use to control your car Is this really that big an advantage? I don't know who is making multi-thousand dollar a year decisions based on this.