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Tesla released a white paper on its new string solar inverter and claims that it is much cheaper than competing inverter solutions from Enphase and SolarEdge.

In 2021, Tesla launched its own solar inverter for the first time.

Over the last few years, the company has started to integrate it increasingly into its own solar installations, and it also supplies it to other solar installers through its certified installer program.

Electrek has now obtained a white paper about its solar inverter that Tesla has been sharing around.

Tesla explained in the white paper’s summary:

Tesla’s mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. To speed up the adoption of solar and storage in the residential energy sector, we’ve focused on providing products specifically designed for both the system owner and the installer. To develop the Tesla Solar Inverter, we leveraged our deep industry experience to design an inverter that offered the best value for system owners, while being easy to install, maintain, and service.

Tesla’s main claim in the paper is that its string inverter solution is cheaper at the purchase and through the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE).

Tesla claims its new solar inverter is much cheaper than the competition

In the paper, Tesla admits that its solution results in a lower production by about 1 or 2%:

We then assessed the real-world performance data of these sites to characterize the effects of inverter type on the system’s output. We compared actual system performance data of sites with different inverter types but similar SES, ensuring only similar roofs were compared. For the homes that are good for solar (SES 6-10), sites that used optimizers saw energy production gains of 1-2% compared to homes that used Tesla Solar Inverters. When comparing the cost of Tesla Solar Inverter with MLPEs, it begged the question whether the production gains were worth the increased cost of the MLPEs.

The leading solar inverter company using optimizers is SolarEdge, which Tesla mentions in the white paper and appears to compare its solution to in this case.

Electrek contacted SolarEdge for a comment on the comparison, and we will update if we get an answer.

In the paper, Tesla claims that the trade-off for the lower output was worth it since its analysis resulted in a 6% lower Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE):

To answer this question, an LCOE analysis was performed to compare two 8 kW solar systems4. In the base-case scenario, our analysis found that the Tesla system had a 6% lower LCOE for the most common SES5. We also found that, for 93% of sites in the sample, Tesla had a lower LCOE. The difference in LCOE is driven entirely by higher inverter equipment costs. Further, the gap between LCOEs for SES 8 roofs expands to approximately 15% after factoring in the potential failures of optimizers during the service life6. These findings prove that over the system’s lifetime, the Tesla Solar Inverter will provide energy at a better value for most customers.

Tesla also claims that its string solar inverter results in benefits for installers in terms of ease of installation and site design process.

Here’s the full white paper:

Electrek’s Take

The white paper reads more like a sale brochure than a scientific paper, but it doesn’t mean that the data is inaccurate.

I also found it interesting that the white paper also focused on the “Tesla ecosystem”:

For the customer, Tesla Solar Inverter completes their Tesla ecosystem. System owners use a single app to monitor and manage their entire home energy system. Instead of sorting through multiple apps to make sure all devices are working properly, the Tesla app displays all Tesla products, including solar, Tesla vehicles, and charging. The intuitive app experience allows the customer to view and manage home energy usage across these devices, with the system optimizing for savings and efficiency. As new features are developed, they are automatically made available in the Tesla app, ensuring customers can unlock the full potential of their home energy system.

We have been seeing a shift in Tesla’s solar business lately where the company appears to be focusing more on providing its ecosystem supported mainly by the Powerwall, and now, the solar inverter.

I think eventually that might be Tesla’s primary approach to achieving scale with its new Tesla Electric business.

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LiveWire Alpinista unveiled as newest electric motorcycle from Harley offshoot

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LiveWire Alpinista unveiled as newest electric motorcycle from Harley offshoot

LiveWire, the electric motorcycle brand spun out of Harley-Davidson, has just announced its latest electric motorcycle model. The new LiveWire S2 Alpanista is built on the same platform as the brand’s last two models, leveraging the Arrow platform as a versatile foundation for several diverse bikes.

The Arrow platform first received its debut with the LiveWire S2 Del Mar, which was then followed by the S2 Mulholland.

LiveWire announced that a high-performance electric maxi-scooter would be produced on the Arrow platform, but not before the company rolled out the S2 Alpinista. “The Alpinista is LiveWire’s first sport standard,” explained the company, “equipped with 17” wheels and tires, blending the best of street, sport, and hyper-tourer characteristics.”

The recently unveiled S2 Alpinista is mechanically quite similar to the two previous models sharing the platform. The 10.5 kWh battery that serves as the main structure of the bike will offer a maximum range of 120 miles (193 km) per charge under city riding conditions. It can be recharged with a Level 2 charger from 20-80% in just 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The 433 lb (196 kg) bike can achieve a 0-60 mph (0-96 km/h) time of just 3.0 seconds, thanks to its powerful 63 kW (84 hp) motor. The S2 Alpinista can also reach an electronically limited top speed of 99 mph (159 km/h).

Priced at US $15,999 and already available at LiveWire dealerships in North America and Europe, the S2 Alpinista officially becomes the most affordable LiveWire electric motorcycle available to date, undercutting the $16,249 S2 Del Mar electric street tracker and the $16,499 Mulholland electric sport cruiser.

“Alpinista reimagines the S2 by combining the urban agility of a supermoto with the do-it-all nature of a touring bike, creating a practical and thrilling sport standard,” explained the brand.

The smaller 17″ wheels help reduce the seat height of the bike, and combined with the Dunlop Roadsmart IV tires, the street-optimized bike is ideal for “both daily commutes and spirited rides through winding roads.”

The S2 Alpinista comes with 6-axis IMU from Bosch providing cornering-enhanced antilock braking and cornering-enhanced traction control systems, in addition to four preset ride modes and two custom modes.

Now the third model launched on the Arrow platform, the S2 Alpanista underscores the versatility of LiveWire’s workhorse. The approach was intended to allow the e-motorcycle offshoot to quickly innovate with multiple styles of motorcycles all sharing key structural and drivetrain components. The move has largely been seen as an engineering success, with three models hitting the road in under three years. However, sales have yet to reach targets set by LiveWire as the more premium electric motorcycle industry has experienced a rocky few years.

As a LiveWire S2 Del Mar owner myself, I can attest to both the performance and enjoyable experience of bikes built on the platform, though I do find myself in a somewhat smaller community than LiveWire had likely hoped for. With the backing of its powerful older brother H-D, which retains a controlling stake in the company, LiveWire has enjoyed the relative freedom to cruise for its first few years and focus on motorcycle development and rollouts, with profitability hopefully coming over the horizon in due time.

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Oil major BP to cut thousands of jobs in cost-saving drive

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Oil major BP to cut thousands of jobs in cost-saving drive

British oil and gasoline company BP (British Petroleum) signage is being pictured in Warsaw, Poland, on July 29, 2024.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

British oil major BP on Thursday said it is planning to cut thousands of jobs as part of a major cost-reduction exercise.

“Today, we have today told staff across bp that the proposed changes that have been announced to date are expected to impact around 4700 bp roles – these account for much of the anticipated reduction this year,” BP said in a statement.

“We are also reducing our contractor numbers by 3000,” the company said.

The measures, which were designed to lower costs, come after BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said last year that the company intends to deliver at least $2 billion of cash savings by the end of 2026.

BP’s workforce currently stands at around 87,800.

Shares of the company traded 1.4% higher on Thursday morning.

Strategy in focus

BP has underperformed its European rivals of late as energy market participants continue to question the firm’s investment case.

In a trading update published Tuesday, BP said weaker refinery margins and turnaround activity will deliver a $100 million to $300 million blow to its fourth-quarter profit, while further declines are expected in oil production.

The energy firm is scheduled to report quarterly and full-year earnings on Feb. 11.

BP said in the same update that it had postponed an event for investors next month so that its chief executive can fully recuperate from a “planned medical procedure.” Auchincloss was said to be “recovering well” from the procedure, which had not been previously disclosed.

The capital markets event, which had previously been scheduled to take place in New York on Feb. 11, will now take place in London on Feb. 26.

— CNBC’s Ruxandra Iordache contributed to this report.

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Biden’s $635M good-bye, Trump’s DOT pick will investigate Tesla, and a look ahead

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Biden's 5M good-bye, Trump's DOT pick will investigate Tesla, and a look ahead

On today’s episode of Quick Charge we explore the uncertainty around the future of EV incentives, the roles different stakeholders will play in shaping that future, and our friend Stacy Noblet from energy consulting firm ICF stops by to share her take on what lies ahead.

We’ve got a couple of different articles and studies referenced in this forward-looking interview, and I’ve done my best to link to all of them below. If I missed one, let me know in the comments.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

Got news? Let us know!
Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.

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