Next generation technology company Tesla is set to join Home Depot to expand its footprint in retail sales. Tesla, best known for manufacturing and sales of electric cars, solar panels, and energy storage products, will be setting up kiosks that will have Tesla brand. These kiosks will be set up across 600 Home Depots, and will undergo further expansion afterwards. Tesla will be selling its residential rooftop solar panels and Powerwall, a battery that is specifically designed for homes, which will store the energy generated from these solar panels. Tesla has plans to further expand in more than 800 stores in this year. Home Depot has around 2,200 stores in the entire US.
These kiosks are already set up in stores in Southern California, where Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has his other ventures like SpaceX and The Boring Company. Other Tesla branded kiosks will open up in places such as Las Vegas, Nevada and Orlando, Florida.
The decision is based on an association between Tesla-owned SolarCity with Home Depot that dates back to 2016. However, SolarCity had started marketing to its customers from Home Depot stores back in 2013.
Tesla has decided to take this one step further to ensure that its customers are covered. The kiosks will have their own employees, who will be demonstrating real-time roof top solar panels and the Powerwall storage devices. Post demonstration, customers can request a customized quote and schedule an onsite consultation by a representative of Tesla. The consultation service is free, and the company will deploy well-trained professionals to conduct consultation and installations.
Since there are a good number of solar panel installers available on the market, Tesla is trying to attract customers by offering the one-stop-shop convenience. The company provides end-to-end offering, from financing, installation, warranty, and support for its energy products.
As of now, only one product won’t be available on Home Depot stores, the Solar Tiles, which are different from Solar Panels. The Solar Tiles will be sold only via Tesla’s website.
