Electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is known by many for its vehicles and leader Elon Musk. Others know the company’s ambitions in solar energy, energy storage and creating humanoid robots.
One of these efforts is getting a major scaling back according to reports.
What Happened: Tesla earlier this year was reportedly pausing the installation of solar roofs. The pause came due to supply chain issues and caused potential problems for customers who could be left without roofs or half-finished jobs. Also in March, Tesla raised the prices of its solar roof tiles and installations.
New reports lay out more problems for previous and current customers of work through Tesla’s solar division.
Reports from Electrek said Tesla canceled numerous solar projects and scaled back the solar division. The report said Tesla was shutting down solar operations in some markets. Electrek stated it received reports from customers of Tesla Solar who were informed their projects would not be moving forward.
“Thank you for your interest in Tesla Solar. Upon further review of your project, our team has determined that your home is in an area we no longer service. As we cannot complete your order, we have processed your cancellation. You will receive a full refund or any collected deposit within 7-10 business days to the card on file,” said an email sent to customers that was seen by Electrek.
Electrek also reported Tesla laid off employees in its solar business. The article said in some cases Tesla was referring customers to third-party installers, a potential change of strategy.
Benzinga reached out to Tesla for comment and will update the story if a comment is received.
Related Link: Tesla Q3 Earnings Highlights: Record Revenue, Operating Margin And Free Cash Flow, Tesla Semi Deliveries Coming In December
Why It’s Important: Tesla acquired SolarCity in 2016 and put a focus on growing the division while it also scaled up its electric vehicle business.
In the third quarter, Tesla’s solar business had 94 MW of solar power deployed, which was up 13% year-over-year. The second quarter of this year had a record solar deployment of 106 MW, up 25% year-over-year.
Tesla saw solar deployment up 68% year-over-year in the last fiscal year. The company reported solar roof deployments nearly tripled in the last fiscal year.
At one point, Tesla said the company’s solar business could be bigger than its vehicle segment. That call could be in question now with the potential unscaling of the business segment.
TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were up 7.39% to $190.72 at market close on Thursday.
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