This Week in Tesla: Powerwalls & Solar Prove Very Useful in Texas Blackouts, 3 & Y Prices Reduced

Powerwalls & Solar Prove Very Useful in Texas Blackouts -

With all of the recent blackouts in Texas due to the snowstorm, a few people are proving to be much better prepared for events like this than others. Those people have powerwalls and solar. Even without solar, one can charge their powerwall prior to the storm, and use the electricity from their powerwall to provide power to the essential things in the house. With the rolling blackouts, one can charge their powerwall when they have power, and then run their house off of the powerwall when they do not. Although Texas governor Greg Abbott tried to claim that the power outages were due to frozen wind turbines, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas proved that the majority of the loss in capacity was caused by thermal and coal plants. One Houston resident claims that their four powerwalls provided them with over 45 hours of electricity, and was able to recharge during the brief periods when the grid power was on.

3 & Y Prices Reduced -

Tesla has updated the pricing for both the Model 3 & Y, making the standard range, rear wheel drive Model 3 start at $36,990. While the cheapest Model 3 & Y have gotten cheaper, the most expensive version of both has gotten more expensive, as the Performance 3 & Y received a $1,000 price bump. This combined with the new federal tax credit incentives will make the Model 3 cheaper, and likely result in a boost in sales for Tesla. One gripe that many RWD Standard Range Model 3 buyers had with Tesla is that they never delivered on the originally promised $35,000 base price. The $35,000 promised in 2017 would be equivalent to $37,350 today, meaning the Model 3 is actually cheaper than was first promised.