Last quarter, Tesla installed 85 megawatts (MW) of rooftop solar power across the United States. That’s up from a mere 26 MW in Q2 2020. Of course, Q2 2020 was plagued by the covid-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns. (Bad pun somewhat intended.) Nonetheless, a more than tripling of solar power installations is a big step up.
Energy storage deployments grew to a similarly large degree, from 419 GWh in Q2 2020 to 1274 GWh in Q2 2021.
However, these figures alone don’t tell the full story — perhaps not much at all.
Table from Tesla Q2 2021 Update
It typically takes months and months from the time that someone orders a rooftop solar system from Tesla to the day it actually goes online and starts generating electricity for them. After you buy a system, Tesla has to get a team out there to put it on your roof. That can take a while, and is especially dependent on the ratio between workers in the area who can perform a solar installation and the level of consumer demand for such solar systems.
But that may not even be the lengthiest part of the process (and wait) for most new solar buyers. In some places in the US, the permitting process can take just a few days less than forever. In many other places in the US, it can take weeks or months (as in, several months). There are not many places where it happens in the course of a week. Europe and Australia don’t seem to have a permitting problem anything like this. Permits are quick and easy. The US, for some reason, is slow to adapt.
On the plus side, that means there’s plenty of room for improvement in the US — which can bring costs down considerably. On the down side, the US is far behind. …
One promising initiative is the new SolarAPP+ initiative. It is helping to streamline the solar permitting process in places around the country. As simple as it sounds, this is one of the most exciting developments in the US solar industry in years. Thanks is due for all the people involved to make it happen. And on the topic of Tesla, note that Tesla was quite involved in the development of the program. Check out my interview with Amber D’Ottavio, Vice President of Product Management at Accela, to hear more:
I’ve been shocked, to be honest, at how slowly Tesla solar installations are getting both installed and permitted. Hopefully this is an area that can get quicker and quicker in the coming few years.
In the meantime, 85 MW of solar ain’t nothin’. That’s 85 MW of clean, homegrown power capacity that can create electricity from sunlight — and can also then power your electric car. Of all the many wonderful things in the cleantech industry, I’m not sure if anything beats the phrase “I’m driving on sunshine” or “I’m driving on sunlight.”
If you ask the average American which country is doing the most to improve e-bike battery safety, most people probably wouldn’t guess China. But that’s exactly where the world’s strongest, most comprehensive lithium-ion safety rules are coming from – and the latest round just went into effect today.
Beginning December 1, China has officially banned the sale of all e-bikes built to the older national standard, replacing them with a new, far stricter rule set known as GB 17761-2024. Under the announcement from the State Administration for Market Regulation, any e-bike sold in China from today forward must carry a valid CCC certification under this brand-new standard. Older certificates are now invalid, and retailers caught selling non-compliant bikes face enforcement from local regulators.
The new rules go far beyond what most countries require. They tighten fire-resistance requirements, restrict the amount of plastic allowed on an e-bike, cap total vehicle weight, and mandate improved electrical safety. The regulations also work hand-in-hand with a second standard, the already-implemented GB 43854-2024, which sets some of the toughest lithium-ion battery testing requirements in the world, including mandatory over-charge protection, thermal abuse tests, puncture tests, and a ban on repurposed or second-hand cells, a major cause of past fires.
Balancing safety and convenience for existing owners, Chinese regulators also built in consumer protections. Bikes that were already purchased and registered under the old rules won’t be forced off the road. And companies are required to support repairs and spare parts for at least the next five years. But unregistered “old-standard” bikes must have been formally plated already, or they’ll no longer be legal to operate.
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For a country often stereotyped as producing unsafe batteries, the reality is almost the opposite. China is now setting the global pace on e-bike safety – aggressively tightening standards, sharply reducing fire risks, and pushing manufacturers to meet levels of testing that most of Europe and the US still haven’t matched.
A prominent European EV repair specialist is sounding the alarm on Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles equipped with LG battery cells manufactured in China, claiming they are seeing “catastrophic” failure rates and significantly shorter lifespans compared to Panasonic packs.
For years, the narrative around Tesla’s move to Chinese battery suppliers has been generally positive, with the LFP (Lithium Iron Phosphate) packs from CATL proving to be extremely durable.
However, Tesla also sources Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) cells from LG Energy Solution’s Nanjing facility for its Long Range and Performance models in Europe and parts of Asia.
Now, EV Clinic, a Croatia-based independent research and repair facility known for diving deep into battery diagnostics, has issued a severe warning regarding these specific LG NCM811 packs.
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According to the firm, data from its repair center suggests a stark difference in quality between Tesla’s two main higher-energy-density packs: the US-made Panasonic NCA packs and the Chinese-made LG NCM packs.
“We are raising serious concerns about Tesla Model 3/Y LG NCM811 battery packs (LGES Nanjing), which exhibit very high failure rates and significantly shorter lifespans compared to Panasonic NCA packs (Made in USA).”
The shop claims that while Panasonic packs are generally repairable and can last up to 250,000 miles before cell failure, the LG equivalents are approaching end-of-life at around 150,000 miles.
More concerning is the nature of the failure. EV Clinic states that in over 90% of the cases they see with LG packs, cell-level repair is “impossible.”
The issue appears to be widespread degradation across the modules rather than a single bad cell bringing down the pack. They found that LG cells often show extremely high internal resistance.
“A failing Panasonic cell hits roughly 28 mΩ, which is the measurement for LG cells when brand new… Out of 46 cells, it’s common to find 15 cells over 100 mΩ ACIR, and the remaining 30 cells above 50 mΩ ACIR.”
The lab shared an example from a Tesla battery module:
Because the degradation is so uniform and severe, replacing a single faulty module is described as “operationally unsustainable,” as the remaining weakened cells are likely to fail in a cascade shortly after.
The situation has become so problematic for the shop that they announced they are introducing a “feasibility fee” just to check if these specific packs can be repaired, noting that they are “losing over €20,000 each month” attempting to fix packs that are effectively dead.
At this moment, during ongoing experimental testing with real customers experiencing LG failures, we are losing over €20,000 per month in operational time while investigating whether LG’s Chinese NCM811 systems can be sustainably repaired. At this stage, we can confidently say: the cells are, to put it mildly, catastrophic. Panasonic has mostly single-cell failures at 250,000km, and it is repairable, whereas LG has multiple-cell failures.
Their advice to owners with failed LG packs? Swap it for a used Panasonic pack or go to Tesla for a full replacement.
Electrek’s Take
This is a pretty damning report from a shop that is well-respected in the aftermarket repair community for actually tearing these things apart and attempting to fix them rather than just swapping them out.
We know that Tesla has been diversifying its battery supply chain aggressively, and for the most part, it has worked out well. The CATL LFP packs are tanks, heavy, but durable. But the NCM chemistry is trickier, and if these findings from EV Clinic hold up across a larger sample size, it could be a headache for Tesla, especially in Europe, where many of the China-made NCM packs end up.
It’s worth noting that this applies specifically to the LG NCM811 packs from Nanjing. Many US Tesla owners have Panasonic packs, which this report actually praises as highly durable and repairable.
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Thanksgiving may be over, and the official Black Friday date may have passed, but that doesn’t mean savings have slowed down any, with us now having shifted over into Cyber Monday sales. Many of the previous Black Friday Green Deals we spotted up until today are continuing – some ending tonight with the holiday, while others are continuing on through the rest of the week. If you didn’t jump on these deals last week, you still have time to score the best prices of the year across e-bikes, EVs, power stations, tools, eco-friendly appliances, and much more. We’ve thrown all the best deals into this one-stop shopping hub for all your greener needs and will continue updating it throughout the week. Head below to browse all the best Cyber Monday Green Deals while they last.