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[Trojita]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walmar...legedly-caused-fires-at-seven-walmart-stores/

Walmart sued Tesla for "gross negligence" on Tuesday, claiming that the electric car company's energy division installed solar panels that went up in flames on its store rooftops. The fires caused millions of dollars in damage, the lawsuit alleges.


The retailer said fires broke out at seven store rooftops between 2012 and 2018. One location in Ohio had to be closed for eight days, Walmart said in the complaint. The lawsuit claims Tesla never provided Walmart with an explanation for the "root cause" of the fires.
"The number of defects, however, is overwhelming and plainly indicative of systemic, widespread failures by Tesla to meet the standard of care, as set forth in the governing contracts, as to the solar systems installed at Walmart's stores," the lawsuit claims.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

7 stores over 5 years, out of 244 total stores. Sounds like their gripe is an overreaching expectation as to what Tesla was supposed to handle. Gripes like "one time, someone came to service the panels and left the cover open" seem spurious.

Oh well. One megacorp versus another. Don't care much.

 

[godhandiscen]

I read in hacker news that these panels were installed before the solar panel company was acquired by Tesla. Therefore, these incidents are not indicative of the quality of the current panel installations.
Regardless, I took a hit thanks to these news

 

[Tesseract]

who knew the green new deal would be a charred money pit atop our walmarts

what a wonderful time to be alive

 

[EverydayBeast]

Solar technology is important, but I find this whole thing interesting, if I'm Walmart I can't lose hours of downtime.

 

[Pagusas]

7 stores over 5 years, out of 244 total stores. Sounds like their gripe is an overreaching expectation as to what Tesla was supposed to handle. Gripes like "one time, someone came to service the panels and left the cover open" seem spurious.

Oh well. One megacorp versus another. Don't care much.

I’m sorry but what? One would be understanable, but 7 occurrences is either a design fault or a QA issues, both are problems and warranty a lawsuit.

Samsung has to recall millions of phones over less fires.

 

[EviLore]

I read in hacker news that these panels were installed before the solar panel company was acquired by Tesla. Therefore, these incidents are not indicative of the quality of the current panel installations.
Regardless, I took a hit thanks to these news

Solar City engages in a lot of dubious business practices, like refusing to tell customers what panels are being installed on their roofs, and pushing zero upfront cost leases that cause serious problems for reselling your home for the duration of the 20 year terms. Its CEO is Elon Musk's cousin, and they were always planning on an eventual acquisition by Telsa.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

I’m sorry but what? One would be understanable, but 7 occurrences is either a design fault or a QA issues, both are problems and warranty a lawsuit.

Samsung has to recall millions of phones over less fires.

Sounds like these panels were installed (and properly maintained? That seems to be unclear) by a company that was later bought by Tesla, and it's also unclear to what degree they were negligent, hence the lawsuit.

I honestly don't know if a .7% - .8% failure rate -- averaging across those 5 years --is high or not, especially considering that Wal Mart has made the accusations but the court determination has yet to be made.

 

[Ovek]

Sounds like these panels were installed (and properly maintained? That seems to be unclear) by a company that was later bought by Tesla, and it's also unclear to what degree they were negligent, hence the lawsuit.

I honestly don't know if a .7% - .8% failure rate -- averaging across those 5 years --is high or not, especially considering that Wal Mart has made the accusations but the court determination has yet to be made.

A 3% failure rate.

 

[jts]

Sounds like these panels were installed (and properly maintained? That seems to be unclear) by a company that was later bought by Tesla, and it's also unclear to what degree they were negligent, hence the lawsuit.

I honestly don't know if a .7% - .8% failure rate -- averaging across those 5 years --is high or not, especially considering that Wal Mart has made the accusations but the court determination has yet to be made.

Whatever’s the number wouldn’t be a big failure rate if it just meant the panels stop working or something innocuous like that. They catch on fucking fire. You can’t downplay that.

 

[godhandiscen]

Solar City engages in a lot of dubious business practices, like refusing to tell customers what panels are being installed on their roofs, and pushing zero upfront cost leases that cause serious problems for reselling your home for the duration of the 20 year terms. Its CEO is Elon Musk's cousin, and they were always planning on an eventual acquisition by Telsa.

I have heard some of their shady practices before, but I think the tiles are great looking. I have until the end of the year to make a decision I guess.

 

[Ovek]

Whatever’s the number wouldn’t be a big failure rate if it just meant the panels stop working or something innocuous like that. They catch on fucking fire. You can’t downplay that.

Solar panels installed in a series are extremely high voltage (especially in industrial installations like this) so any fault along the entire installation could cause a quite significant and sustained plasma arc.

 

[Dontero]

Solar City engages in a lot of dubious business practices, like refusing to tell customers what panels are being installed on their roofs, and pushing zero upfront cost leases that cause serious problems for reselling your home for the duration of the 20 year terms. Its CEO is Elon Musk's cousin, and they were always planning on an eventual acquisition by Telsa.

What is shady thing here ?

1. When you buy laptop you don't ask for manufacturer of various components. From what i know they work as service rather than selling components. Meaning that if you want to install that stuff everything needs to be done by them and you can't just buy a piece by piece.
2. Someone deciding to get lease is his own problem. That someone can buy with cash and have no issues and i doubt Tesla would disagree with that.


7 stores out of 225 is actually a lot.

 

[Slings and Arrows]

What's the problem?

Walmart will just rebuild itself anyway.

 

[Mohonky]

Doesnt matter whether it falls in the expected failure rate, causing a fire and damaging a building is still negligence.

If true and it was prior to Tesla taking over, that would be their only real defense.

Otherwise thats why companies typically have liability insurance

 

[mckmas8808]

What is shady thing here ?

1. When you buy laptop you don't ask for manufacturer of various components. From what i know they work as service rather than selling components. Meaning that if you want to install that stuff everything needs to be done by them and you can't just buy a piece by piece.
2. Someone deciding to get lease is his own problem. That someone can buy with cash and have no issues and i doubt Tesla would disagree with that.


7 stores out of 225 is actually a lot.

3% isn't a lot at all.

 

[Phunkydiabetic]

3% isn't a lot at all.

The lawsuit won't be looking at "3% of our stores were affected". It'll be "how much money was lost during the downtime of those 3% of stores affected". Which is a completely valid way to look at things, from a mega corporation point of view anyways.

 

[ResilientBanana]

It appears that they were installation issues more than equipment failure. Ground your shit and close your covers. Walmart also didn't do their part.

Walmart lawsuit photos reveal scorched roofs and massive damage as it claims Tesla solar panels caught fire at 7 stores

Walmart claims Tesla's solar panels caused millions of dollars in damages in a new lawsuit, providing photos that appear to show scorched roofs.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[iconmaster]

I don't know what a reasonable expectation is here. A 3% failure rate seems pretty darn low; unfortunately, when the panels do fail they fail spectacularly and dangerously.

 

[mckmas8808]

It appears that they were installation issues more than equipment failure. Ground your shit and close your covers. Walmart also didn't do their part.

Walmart lawsuit photos reveal scorched roofs and massive damage as it claims Tesla solar panels caught fire at 7 stores

Walmart claims Tesla's solar panels caused millions of dollars in damages in a new lawsuit, providing photos that appear to show scorched roofs.

www.businessinsider.com

This is a good follow-up to this story. Thanks.

 

[Ovek]

Tesla and Walmart settle over solar rooftop fires

Walmart and Tesla have settled a lawsuit that the retailer had filed against Elon Musk's renewable energy business in August.

www.cnbc.com

Walmart settled out of court which is boring.