Class action lawsuit against Tesla Solar Roof and $6 million settlement

Tesla has reached a settlement to pay slightly over $6 million to resolve a class action lawsuit filed by a group of its customers. The affected group comprises more than 8,000 customers.

The class action lawsuit was initiated due to abrupt price hikes in ordered photovoltaic (PV) roofs. These price increases occurred in 2021 and impacted customers who had previously entered into agreements with Elon Musk’s company. Notably, the price for a single order surged from around $72,000 as per the original contract to approximately $146,000.

As per records from the San Francisco District Court, over 6,300 customers opted to cancel their contracts. Meanwhile, Tesla managed to fulfill 1,656 contracts for solar roofs at the initially agreed-upon price.

Development of solar roofs

In 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk initially introduced the solar roof system, touting it as a visually appealing solution that not only generates energy but also seamlessly blends with standard roofs, devoid of photovoltaic panels.

At a shareholder presentation, Musk held a glassy solar tile to showcase the product, which was part of Tesla’s proposal to acquire SolarCity. However, it was later disclosed that the tile he displayed was a prop and not a functional prototype.

Subsequent to the presentation, Tesla has managed to install approximately 3,000 solar roofs. Given the escalating demand for photovoltaics, this outcome is undeniably underwhelming.

Fall in demand for PV from Tesla

In the energy sector, Tesla experienced a significant drop in its total photovoltaic (PV) system deployments, which encompass both conventional PV panels and solar roof tiles. These deployments declined by nearly half, reaching 48 megawatts (MW) in the first quarter of 2022 when compared to the same period in 2021.

Tesla attributed these declines to delays in importing certain components, clarifying that the company had no control over the interruptions in deliveries.