Walmart and Tesla are working together in order to resolve the troubles with solar panels on the rooftop. Its installation on the rooftop caused severe fire at seven U.S. stores. The retail giant, Walmart sued Tesla over the solar panel fires. They claim that Tesla was negligent about the process of installation on the roof of the seven stores. According to the court documents, between 2012 and 2018 a series of fires has caused at Walmart places in Ohio, California, and Maryland. The first fire has taken place in 2012 in Long Beach, California. But the accused firm, Tesla has not replied to the claims.
Alleges by Walmart
It filed in New York State Supreme Court and alleges that Tesla has broken the contract neglected and failed to maintain the industry standards. Walmart was also asking Tesla to eliminate solar panels from its 240 and more Walmart locations. And Tesla was asked to pay the damages Walmart is facing due to these fire incidents. Within an hour of the fire news, Tesla’s stock downed more than 1%. Walmart also added, “Tesla routinely deployed individuals who lacked basic solar training and knowledge to inspect the solar systems.” Along with these, they also said that Tesla repeatedly failed to maintain its basic electrical systems properly. On the locations where Tesla installed solar panels, some defects were too prominently visible yet Tesla did not take any precautionary step, hence the fire incident ensued.
Both companies in a joint statement said, “Walmart and Tesla look forward to addressing all issues and re-energizing Tesla solar installations at Walmart stores, once all parties are certain that all concerns have been addressed.”
Some after pictures of fires
According to a legal transparency website, on the fire locations, Walmart has found faulty cables, poor wiring, cracked panels and very poor maintenance practices by the accused firm, Tesla and it is leading it to depower all the panel installations.
Walmart said in the complaint that faulty connectors were the main reason for fires at the two Walmart locations in California. Both companies are talking and trying to resolve but this complaint will remain in the files. Randy Hargrove, Walmart spokesman said, “We are actively working towards a resolution,”.
Steps of Tesla
Presently, Tesla is working to renew its solar business. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, shared in a tweet that now customers can rent Tesla’s residential solar systems without even a contract in some states. Presently the offer is available in six states and the customers may need to pay at least $50 a month or $65 a month in California. But Elon Musk also tweeted that in case of canceling the rooftop at any time by the customer will cost $1500 (mentioned in Tesla’s website) to take out the solar system panels and restore the roof properly. Apart from these, Musk has also shown off that Tesla has safe solar roof tiles. But the sad part is that these roof tiles are not mass manufactured and widely distributed.
