Tesla Cuts Cost of Solar Panels and Solar Roof with New $500 Referral Bonus
While Tesla is currently best known for its electric cars, the company provides solar power systems to consumers as well. In fact, they do this at one of the lowest prices in the industry – currently about $2.01/watt before incentives. This week, Tesla quietly started offering a new incentive to those considering the purchase of a Tesla solar panel or solar roof system: $500 cash back.
To take advantage of this offer, you need a Tesla referral code or link – that same code you use to get free supercharging on a Tesla car purchase. Any current Tesla car owner or Tesla solar owner can provide you with the code or link – just ask them. If you need one, feel free to use mine:
Tesla Referral Link <– use this for a cash bonus on your Tesla solar purchase
If ordering by phone or chat, you can use Tesla referral code: christopher55570
Tesla offers solar power systems at some of the lowest prices in the industry. Photo courtesy of Tesla, 2021.
The referral code discount for solar is not new, but before last week, the incentive was just $100, so Tesla just increased that by five times. Current Tesla owners who refer new buyers to Tesla solar also get a $500 incentive, an increase from the previous $400 bounty. The $500 payment is sent to buyer and referrer after the solar power system has been successfully installed at the new customer’s residence.
As our own Johnna Crider wrote, Tesla Solar has been becoming more affordable. Tesla recently dropped the interest rate from 5.99% to 0.99% (10 year term) for those who prefer to finance their solar purchase. This saves customers thousands of dollars in interest over the term of the loan. And because it is a purchase, not a rental or lease, the customer is eligible for any state or federal incentives.
As for why Tesla Solar is so much cheaper than the competition, our editor Zach Shahan wrote about this recently after an exchange with Elon Musk over Twitter. As Elon explained, the cost of materials and installation is not super-high. The reason most competitors charge more is that they have the overhead of salespeople. Just as Tesla eliminated the need for car salespeople and dealerships by taking the ordering and buying process online, they’ve done the same for solar systems. Also, by providing a limited number of configurations (small, medium and large systems) the company has eliminated much of the manual effort involved in putting together a system.
When Tesla acquired Solar City’s solar business in 2016, some were skeptical about the deal, and some thought it made perfect sense. For Elon Musk, the acquisition was a no-brainer: if you’re trying to wean the world from its fossil fuel addiction, you can’t just fix the transportation sector by displacing gas-powered cars with electric ones, you have to address the consumer power market too. And so Tesla has been installing solar power systems, residential batteries and massive commercial battery power systems in an effort to eliminate fossil fuels as the primary source of electrical power.
Is there a catch to signing up for Tesla solar? Sort of. Musk believes that solar power systems are much less valuable without battery storage. So at this point, you cannot purchase a solar panel system or solar roof from Tesla without one or more of Tesla’s PowerWall batteries. And these batteries aren’t exactly cheap ($10,500 at publication time). The benefits or having battery storage in your solar system are huge: you can shift your power usage from peak levels to off-peak levels, reducing your impact on the grid and saving you money. You also have emergency back-up power in the result of a blackout or grid failure – something we’ve been seeing more frequently with super storms and the impact of climate change. But the fact remains that these batteries do increase the cost of a system, and this should be considered as you make your own choice about what type of solar power system to install at your own home.
Read more about the Tesla referral program or about Tesla solar.
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Environment
U.S. crude oil falls below $60 a barrel to lowest since 2021 on tariff-fueled recession fears
A view shows disused oil pump jacks at the Airankol oil field operated by Caspiy Neft in the Atyrau Region, Kazakhstan April 2, 2025.
Pavel Mikheyev | Reuters
U.S. oil prices dropped below $60 a barrel on Sunday on fears President Donald Trump’s global tariffs would push the U.S., and maybe the world, into a recession.
Futures tied to U.S. West Texas intermediate crude fell more than 3% to $59.74 on Sunday night. The move comes after back-to-back 6% declines last week. WTI is now at the lowest since April 2021.
Worries are mounting that tariffs could lead to higher prices for businesses, which could lead to a slowdown in economic activity that would ultimately hurt demand for oil.
Oil futures, 5 years
The tariffs, which are set to take effect this week, “would likely push the U.S. and possibly global economy into recession this year,” according to JPMorgan. The firm on Thursday raised its odds of a recession this year to 60% following the tariff rollout, up from 40%.
Fueled by incentives from the Illinois EPA and the state’s largest utility company, new EV registrations nearly quadrupled the 12% first-quarter increase in EV registrations nationally – and there are no signs the state is slowing down.
Despite the dramatic slowdown of Tesla’s US deliveries, sales of electric vehicles overall have perked up in recent months, with Illinois’ EV adoption rate well above the Q1 uptick nationally. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that the number of new EVs registered across the state totaled 9,821 January through March, compared with “just” 6,535 EVs registered in the state during the same period in 2024.
Those numbers represent more than 50% growth in EV registrations – far beyond the expected 12% first-quarter increase nationally being projected by Cox Automotive. (!)
What’s going on in Illinois?
While President Trump and Elmo were running for re-election, they campaigned on the threat promise of canceling the $7,500 federal tax credit for EVs. Along with California Governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois’ Governor JB Pritzker made countermoves – launching a $4,000 rebate for new electric cars and up to $1,500 for the purchase of a new electric motorcycle.
At the same time, the state’s largest utility, ComEd, launched a $90 million EV incentive program featuring a new Point of Purchase initiative to deliver instant discounts to qualifying business and public sector customers who make the switch to electric vehicles. That program has driven a surge in Class 3-6 medium duty commercial EVs, which are eligible fro $20-30,000 in utility rebates on top of federal tax credits and other incentives (Class 1-2 EVs are eligible for up to $7,500).
We covered the launch of those incentives when the program was announced at Chicago Drives Electric last year, but the message here is simple: incentives work.
SOURCES: Chicago Business, Ray Cunningham; featured image by the author.
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The electric construction equipment experts at XCMG just released a new, 25 ton electric crawler excavator ahead of bauma 2025 – and they have their eye on the global urban construction, mine operations, and logistical material handling markets.
Powered by a high-capacity 400 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery capable of delivering up to 8 hours of continuous operation, the XE215EV electric excavator promises uninterrupted operation at a lower cost of ownership and with even less downtime than its diesel counterparts.
XCMG is delivering on part of that reduced downtime promise with the lower maintenance and easier repair needs of electric equipment, and delivering on the rest of it with lickety-quick DC fast charging that can recharge the machine’s massive battery in 1.5-2 hours … but that’s not the slick bit. The XCMG XE125EV can be powered up without leaving the job site thanks to its BYD battery swap technology.
We first covered XCMG and its battery swap technology back in January, and covered similar battery-swap tech being developed by MOOG Construction offshoot ZQUIP, as well – but while XCMG’s battery tech has been in production for several years, it’s still not widely known about in the West (even within the industry).
XCMG showed off its latest electric equipment at the December 2024 bauma China, including an updated version of its of its 85-ton autonomous electric mining truck that features a fully cab-less design – meaning there isn’t even a place for an operator to sit, let alone operate. And that’s too bad, because what operator wouldn’t want to experience an electric truck putting down 1070 hp more than 16,000 lb-ft of torque!?
Easy in, easy out
The best part? All of the company’s heavy equipment assets – from excavators to terminal tractors to dump trucks and wheel loaders – all use the same 400 kWh BYD battery packs, Milwaukee tool style. That means an equipment fleet can utilize x number of vehicles with a fraction of the total battery capacity and material needs of other asset brands. That’s not just a smart use of limited materials, it’s a smarter use of energy.
You can check out all the XE215EV’s specs at this tear sheet, and get an in-person look at the Chinese company’s latest electric excavator this week in Munich, Germany.
SOURCE | IMAGES: XCMG.
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