Powershare in TX installed yesterday

[Ash]

Well, after a month and a half of back and forth with Smart Charge America, it finally got installed. I'm north of Houston in Montgomery County, TX. Just sharing my story if it helps anyone.

My home is only 5 years old and I had it custom built. We have 400amp service on 2x 200 amp panels. When I originally got the quote for $3500, I thought there was no way it should cost that much. The new charger is right on the other side of the wall, right next to the panels.

It's a large home and whenever a contractor asks for pictures first, I knew it was going to be costly.

I asked Smart Charge to remove the city fee of nearly $350 and to provide me with the hourly rate of how they came up with the quote. A week later, a VP got back to me with a new quote that was exactly the same minus the $350 city charge. He was not willing to provide an hourly cost breakdown but at this point I was just ready to get it done since I was tired of swapping charge cables between the CT and the S Plaid. So my total cost was $3130.

Electric company shows up at 7:30 AM and cuts off power to the house. A contractor for Smart Charge shows up around 8 am. Two Hispanic guys, both very polite although one didn't speak any English and the other was not fluent. They start unloading and their supervisor arrives in another van a few minutes later. He was also very polite and was able to answer a few questions that I had. He then asked me if I already had the charger and I told him I though they were bringing it. He started to argue for a split second and I saw it sitting on the floor, already unloaded from the van so I pointed to it. Crisis diverted.

Anyways, the supervisor didn't stay long. He said he would be back in the afternoon or next day to activate everything. Before leaving, he offered to have his guys move some breakers from the unprotected panel onto the powershare panel. I had him move 2 circuits which was done in a couple of minutes.

I checked on the 2 guys every 30 mins or so. At 11am, I was making a Taco Bell run and I offered to buy the 2 guys lunch. They were appreciative.

At 5 till noon, I checked on the guys and let them know I was about to be in an hour work meeting. They asked for my wi-fi name and password which I provided.

An hour later at 1:00pm, they were finishing up. They said they couldn't find my wi-fi access point and I told him it was because he still had my power turned off. "Oh yeah" haha. By 1:30, they were done and loaded up. The supervisor came by at around 4 and spent 40 minutes activating the powershare.

All in all, the experience was fine. They provided maybe $40 in materials. So I spent $3100 in labor - 2 guys for 5 hours (they took a 30 min lunch) and the supervisor who was there for about 2 hours. So, 12 hours of labor. $258/hour. Now I know why Smart Charge America wouldn't give me an hourly rate breakdown.

I definitely think that Tesla could have done this differently, and by introducing a bit of competition could have cut the price in half for nearly all of us.

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[SentinelOne]

Got-r-done, that's what counts!

 

[Mini2nut]

Glad it went well. The workmanship appears to be great.

I work with construction contractors on a daily basis. The customer doesn't see all of the hidden costs associated with the job.

The $3100 charge seems to be inline for the work performed. I'm happy you negotiated with them as most customers do not.

Fuel, windshield time driving to/from the customers location, truck depreciation, insurance, employee benefit costs, etc. are all factored in on construction bids.

 

[Tanquen]

Tesla is to be doing mine and they told me that the $3500 is their minimum charge for any install. They also want to add another load center but I'm not sure why. After saying they could install it under the stairs they now say nothing can be and have not yet told me where they plan to put everything.

Info on my install.

 

[CyberGus]

They asked for my wi-fi name and password which I provided.

I realize this is necessary to provision the gateway, but I bristle at the idea of handing out my password. Before my Powershare install, I will configure a Guest network with a temporary password, and reconfigure it later.

There's little competition for Powershare installs when it's so new. Most of the installers I contacted would not even consider it, some even argued with me that it was real ("Teslas can't do that") lol. It will get better eventually, but we early-adopters get to blaze the trail.

 

[CyberT1]

Well, after a month and a half of back and forth with Smart Charge America, it finally got installed. I'm north of Houston in Montgomery County, TX. Just sharing my story if it helps anyone.

My home is only 5 years old and I had it custom built. We have 400amp service on 2x 200 amp panels. When I originally got the quote for $3500, I thought there was no way it should cost that much. The new charger is right on the other side of the wall, right next to the panels.

It's a large home and whenever a contractor asks for pictures first, I knew it was going to be costly.

I asked Smart Charge to remove the city fee of nearly $350 and to provide me with the hourly rate of how they came up with the quote. A week later, a VP got back to me with a new quote that was exactly the same minus the $350 city charge. He was not willing to provide an hourly cost breakdown but at this point I was just ready to get it done since I was tired of swapping charge cables between the CT and the S Plaid. So my total cost was $3130.

Electric company shows up at 7:30 AM and cuts off power to the house. A contractor for Smart Charge shows up around 8 am. Two Hispanic guys, both very polite although one didn't speak any English and the other was not fluent. They start unloading and their supervisor arrives in another van a few minutes later. He was also very polite and was able to answer a few questions that I had. He then asked me if I already had the charger and I told him I though they were bringing it. He started to argue for a split second and I saw it sitting on the floor, already unloaded from the van so I pointed to it. Crisis diverted.

Anyways, the supervisor didn't stay long. He said he would be back in the afternoon or next day to activate everything. Before leaving, he offered to have his guys move some breakers from the unprotected panel onto the powershare panel. I had him move 2 circuits which was done in a couple of minutes.

I checked on the 2 guys every 30 mins or so. At 11am, I was making a Taco Bell run and I offered to buy the 2 guys lunch. They were appreciative.

At 5 till noon, I checked on the guys and let them know I was about to be in an hour work meeting. They asked for my wi-fi name and password which I provided.

An hour later at 1:00pm, they were finishing up. They said they couldn't find my wi-fi access point and I told him it was because he still had my power turned off. "Oh yeah" haha. By 1:30, they were done and loaded up. The supervisor came by at around 4 and spent 40 minutes activating the powershare.

All in all, the experience was fine. They provided maybe $40 in materials. So I spent $3100 in labor - 2 guys for 5 hours (they took a 30 min lunch) and the supervisor who was there for about 2 hours. So, 12 hours of labor. $258/hour. Now I know why Smart Charge America wouldn't give me an hourly rate breakdown.

I definitely think that Tesla could have done this differently, and by introducing a bit of competition could have cut the price in half for nearly all of us.

Anyone know what I need to do with This? Are they saying i already have all I need for Power Share?

 

[edh]

I checked on the 2 guys every 30 mins or so. At 11am, I was making a Taco Bell run and I offered to buy the 2 guys lunch. They were appreciative.

This is such a simple and kind gesture that goes so far with service guys. I've always done it because I saw my parents do it and just assumed it was normal. But by how excited I've seen them get sometimes, I don't think it is. My neighbor & I recently had fiber work done by the same company - I bought lunch and brought them water a few times, I don't think he did. Guess who's job looked better, and had a barely noticeable slit in the yard where the cable was buried and didn't have any clean-up work left to do after they left?

All in all, the experience was fine. They provided maybe $40 in materials.

This is $40 of misc electrical parts, excluding the power share equipment? What else was actually delivered / provided by tesla? I keep wondering if it would be cheaper to just purchase the needed equipment outright and hire my own electrical work rather than use the installers they have?

 

[Tanquen]

What is this box for?

Is this the front of the gateway?

 

[Ash]

What is this box for?

Is this the front of the gateway?

The first picture is where the mains go to the garage. I have 2X 200amp panels for 400 amps of service. That was there before the install.

The second pic is the panel but I believe the front of it is facing the wall. It is very clean.

 

[Fabville]

I definitely think that Tesla could have done this differently, and by introducing a bit of competition could have cut the price in half for nearly all of us.

I received a quote for $5200 (Washington state), and immediately reached out to Tesla if I could get additional quotes. They provided me a link to the Tesla Certified Electricians page.

Even on the Tesla PowerShare FAQ page it states installation should cost between $2000-3500. A handful of electricians certainly seem to want to price gouge this install.

 

[CyberT1]

Well, after a month and a half of back and forth with Smart Charge America, it finally got installed. I'm north of Houston in Montgomery County, TX. Just sharing my story if it helps anyone.

My home is only 5 years old and I had it custom built. We have 400amp service on 2x 200 amp panels. When I originally got the quote for $3500, I thought there was no way it should cost that much. The new charger is right on the other side of the wall, right next to the panels.

It's a large home and whenever a contractor asks for pictures first, I knew it was going to be costly.

I asked Smart Charge to remove the city fee of nearly $350 and to provide me with the hourly rate of how they came up with the quote. A week later, a VP got back to me with a new quote that was exactly the same minus the $350 city charge. He was not willing to provide an hourly cost breakdown but at this point I was just ready to get it done since I was tired of swapping charge cables between the CT and the S Plaid. So my total cost was $3130.

Electric company shows up at 7:30 AM and cuts off power to the house. A contractor for Smart Charge shows up around 8 am. Two Hispanic guys, both very polite although one didn't speak any English and the other was not fluent. They start unloading and their supervisor arrives in another van a few minutes later. He was also very polite and was able to answer a few questions that I had. He then asked me if I already had the charger and I told him I though they were bringing it. He started to argue for a split second and I saw it sitting on the floor, already unloaded from the van so I pointed to it. Crisis diverted.

Anyways, the supervisor didn't stay long. He said he would be back in the afternoon or next day to activate everything. Before leaving, he offered to have his guys move some breakers from the unprotected panel onto the powershare panel. I had him move 2 circuits which was done in a couple of minutes.

I checked on the 2 guys every 30 mins or so. At 11am, I was making a Taco Bell run and I offered to buy the 2 guys lunch. They were appreciative.

At 5 till noon, I checked on the guys and let them know I was about to be in an hour work meeting. They asked for my wi-fi name and password which I provided.

An hour later at 1:00pm, they were finishing up. They said they couldn't find my wi-fi access point and I told him it was because he still had my power turned off. "Oh yeah" haha. By 1:30, they were done and loaded up. The supervisor came by at around 4 and spent 40 minutes activating the powershare.

All in all, the experience was fine. They provided maybe $40 in materials. So I spent $3100 in labor - 2 guys for 5 hours (they took a 30 min lunch) and the supervisor who was there for about 2 hours. So, 12 hours of labor. $258/hour. Now I know why Smart Charge America wouldn't give me an hourly rate breakdown.

I definitely think that Tesla could have done this differently, and by introducing a bit of competition could have cut the price in half for nearly all of us.

Does anyone know what this means? How do I use power share?

Well, after a month and a half of back and forth with Smart Charge America, it finally got installed. I'm north of Houston in Montgomery County, TX. Just sharing my story if it helps anyone.

My home is only 5 years old and I had it custom built. We have 400amp service on 2x 200 amp panels. When I originally got the quote for $3500, I thought there was no way it should cost that much. The new charger is right on the other side of the wall, right next to the panels.

It's a large home and whenever a contractor asks for pictures first, I knew it was going to be costly.

I asked Smart Charge to remove the city fee of nearly $350 and to provide me with the hourly rate of how they came up with the quote. A week later, a VP got back to me with a new quote that was exactly the same minus the $350 city charge. He was not willing to provide an hourly cost breakdown but at this point I was just ready to get it done since I was tired of swapping charge cables between the CT and the S Plaid. So my total cost was $3130.

Electric company shows up at 7:30 AM and cuts off power to the house. A contractor for Smart Charge shows up around 8 am. Two Hispanic guys, both very polite although one didn't speak any English and the other was not fluent. They start unloading and their supervisor arrives in another van a few minutes later. He was also very polite and was able to answer a few questions that I had. He then asked me if I already had the charger and I told him I though they were bringing it. He started to argue for a split second and I saw it sitting on the floor, already unloaded from the van so I pointed to it. Crisis diverted.

Anyways, the supervisor didn't stay long. He said he would be back in the afternoon or next day to activate everything. Before leaving, he offered to have his guys move some breakers from the unprotected panel onto the powershare panel. I had him move 2 circuits which was done in a couple of minutes.

I checked on the 2 guys every 30 mins or so. At 11am, I was making a Taco Bell run and I offered to buy the 2 guys lunch. They were appreciative.

At 5 till noon, I checked on the guys and let them know I was about to be in an hour work meeting. They asked for my wi-fi name and password which I provided.

An hour later at 1:00pm, they were finishing up. They said they couldn't find my wi-fi access point and I told him it was because he still had my power turned off. "Oh yeah" haha. By 1:30, they were done and loaded up. The supervisor came by at around 4 and spent 40 minutes activating the powershare.

All in all, the experience was fine. They provided maybe $40 in materials. So I spent $3100 in labor - 2 guys for 5 hours (they took a 30 min lunch) and the supervisor who was there for about 2 hours. So, 12 hours of labor. $258/hour. Now I know why Smart Charge America wouldn't give me an hourly rate breakdown.

I definitely think that Tesla could have done this differently, and by introducing a bit of competition could have cut the price in half for nearly all of us.

So, I received this and I don't know what I am to do. They don't give much of an expiation. Can I use power share? do I need to by something?
Do I use Power Shar to I need to buy something? Ho Congratulations on your recent Cybertruck delivery. Since you have Powerwall installed, your home is already partially configured for Powershare Home Backup. To finalize your setup, your home charging needs to be backed up by your Powerwall. Home Backup is compatible with any home charging unit, but 240V charging will provide the best experience. Our recommended home charging solutions are Wall Connector or Universal Wall Connector. Home Backup functionality is currently live for system configurations that do not have a backed up solar system, Backup Switch o
r Powerwall. Functionality will be available for all configurations later this year following a software update. In the meantime, you will still be able to charge your Cybertruck at home using the Wall Connector. In place of the Home Backup equipment, we are providing you with a one-time use $700 Tesla Shop voucher. You can use this to purchase home charging to complete your Home Backup setup – or to purchase other charging equipment, apparel, accessories and more. This voucher can only be used once and any unused balance remaining after the transaction will be forfeited.* For help installing your preferred home charging solution, contact a Tesla Certified Installer.

 

[Tanquen]

I received a quote for $5200 (Washington state), and immediately reached out to Tesla if I could get additional quotes. They provided me a link to the Tesla Certified Electricians page.

Even on the Tesla PowerShare FAQ page it states installation should cost between $2000-3500. A handful of electricians certainly seem to want to price gouge this install.

Tesla told me their minimum is $3500.

 

[Fabville]

Tesla told me their minimum is $3500.

geez, sounds like Tesla might be trying to implement some price gouging for the installers and go against what their own website says.

 

[Fabville]

Does anyone know what this means? How do I use power share?

So, I received this and I don't know what I am to do. They don't give much of an expiation. Can I use power share? do I need to by something?

Based on the email you copied, it sounds like you already have a PowerWall installed at your home. This FAQ page on Tesla’s site answers some questions pertaining to PowerShare including for those who have a PowerWall.

https://www.tesla.com/support/powershare

With the Foundation Series purchase, you can get PowerShare hardware at no extra cost, you just have to pay for installation. CyberBeast buyers will get $4k towards installation from Tesla.

if you weren’t sure what PowerShare is, it includes a Wall Connector and Tesla Gateway that allows you to power your home with the Cybertruck in the event of a power outage.

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