Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Smart Home
  3. News

Tesla will showcase its solar tech with expansion into Home Depot stores

Mark Austin
By

tesla
Tesla
Tesla plans to market its solar energy products to a more mainstream audience with a major expansion into the largest home-improvement chain in the country. According to Bloomberg, Tesla-branded kiosks showcasing solar panels and Powerwall solar batteries have begun rolling out to 800 locations around the country.

The displays, which are 12 feet tall and 7 feet wide, will be staffed by Tesla employees and will offer demonstrations of the solar products. Although it’s not part of the initial rollout, Home Depot may also begin offering Tesla’s highly anticipated solar roof, according to industry sources.

Recommended Videos

The stylish Tesla solar roofs are more expensive than traditional solar panels, as they look like regular roof shingles and cover the entire house. Some shingles contain solar collection technology and some don’t, but they’re meant to assuage homeowner’s concerns about installing blocky solar reflective tiles on their houses.

Lowe’s, the second-largest home improvement chain, is also interested in featuring Tesla’s solar power products in its stores.

The Powerwall batteries, mounted on the side of the house, are designed to store energy either collected from the solar panels or purchased during off-peak hours from the electrical grid. The stored electricity could be used during power outages, or even to recharge Tesla vehicles.

USA Today reports that some retail outlets in California already have the in-store displays, and they’re planned for Las Vegas and Orlando next week. With the customer’s address, the Tesla employees at the kiosks will be able to use satellite imagery to evaluate the sunlight and potential power generation at the location.

A Tesla solar power panel system will run anywhere from $10,000 to $25,000, with an extra $7,000 for the Powerwall battery. The solar roof, which may be a better option for homeowners who have to replace their entire roof, will cost about $52,000 for the average house.

Home Depot previously featured solar power products from SolarCity Corp., but that didn’t include the in-store displays that Tesla has introduced. Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity in 2016 for $2 billion has made it a major player in the industry, and expanding into the home-improvement retail space could be a significant step towards adoption of clean energy at the household level.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Mark Austin
Mark Austin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Mark’s first encounter with high-tech was a TRS-80. He spent 20 years working for Nintendo and Xbox as a writer and…
Tesla won’t close its stores after all, but its sales model remains digital
Tesla Model 3

Tesla has backpedaled on its plans to close a vast majority of its stores worldwide in order to save money, and to lower the price of its cars accordingly. The California-based automaker published a blog post to explain it will keep more stores open than it initially planned, and it will make most of its cars a little bit more expensive to offset the cost of running a dealer network.

"Over the past two weeks we have been closely evaluating every single Tesla retail location, and we have decided to keep significantly more stores open than previously announced," the company wrote on its official website. It will reopen some of the stores it closed in high-visibility locations, but they will be staffed with fewer employees. Ten percent of the stores it closed will remain that way; they were the locations that didn't perform well and would have closed even if Tesla didn't shift its sales model to online-only. Twenty percent of the stores that were set to close around the globe are under review, meaning the company will evaluate how well they do in the coming months before deciding whether to keep them open or shutter them.

Read more
Virginia Tech beats out competition, wins smart home Solar Decathlon
virginia tech futurehaus solar decathlon tc ec 004

Virginia Tech FutureHAUS

Not too long ago, we wrote about a state-of-the-art modular smart home called FutureHAUS made up of plug-and-play modules that use a futuristic linear track system to automatically adjust each room -- heck, even the toilet if you want -- to each occupant’s individual needs. It might not be the Jetsons, but it still counts as a glimpse of the future in our book.

Read more
These are the best Home Depot appliance deals this Black Friday
home depot security breach settlement

When you think of Black Friday deals, you probably imagine a bunch of little gizmos and gadgets, games consoles and smart speakers. But it's also a great time to give your home a much-needed upgrade with some new appliances. Plenty of big-ticket items get their prices slashed this time of year so if you've been waiting on buying a new washer and dryer or oven, there's no better time.

Home Depot is getting into the holiday spirit with some major sales on the biggest appliances in your home. This probably isn't the type of Black Friday shopping you're used to, but you can save hundreds of dollars on top-name appliances. There are some deals at Home Depot that are just too good to pass up if you're in the market for some appliance upgrades. We rounded up some of our favorites for you so you can plan out your Black Friday shopping.
Refrigerators
Samsung RF260BEAESR French door Refrigerator: $998; save $776

Read more