Ford….. Get Rid of your Deal with SunRun

[sotek2345]

sunRun updated their quote to me;
From $9,400 for the whole HIS installation
To
Free?

if I install 9 solar panels on my roof, which they then say allows them to eliminate the cost of the HIS altogether.
I would pay $35 a month for the lease arrangement of their panels on my roof,
But my electric bill would go down by more than $35,
So it’s essentially “free”.

it sounds too good to be true, but if it is,
It’s sounds like an offer I can’t refuse.

anyone have experience with leased solar systems?

it would be great to get the full soup to nuts potential of the truck with the whole HIS system,
And suddenly it went from a $9,400 proposition to
FREE !?

love to hear anyone’s opinion on this offer. They said “this is the way Ford intended this to work”. Integration with solar, and HIS cost goes away.

We are on a leased solar panel agreement (was solar city / now Tesla). It has worked out pretty well for us so far, but a few things to note:

1) Sunrun would keep any tax credits for the solar install

2) With my agreement the monthly cost goes up every 2 years, not sure if yours is the same or not.

3) I would be very skeptical if 9 panels would generate $35 worth of electricity per month, though that depends on your local utility rates. We have the same sized system in NY and it makes an average of $25/mo. (averaged across the year).

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[Pjlightning]

We are on a leased solar panel agreement (was solar city / now Tesla). It has worked out pretty well for us so far, but a few things to note:

1) Sunrun would keep any tax credits for the solar install

2) With my agreement the monthly cost goes up every 2 years, not sure if yours is the same or not.

3) I would be very skeptical if 9 panels would generate $35 worth of electricity per month, though that depends on your local utility rates. We have the same sized system in NY and it makes an average of $25/mo. (averaged across the year).

Thanks for the feedback. I have a friend who has the Tesla leasing solar deal too, and he’s been totally happy with it. Like Tesla, SunRun takes care of the upkeep, and the homeowner doesn’t have to do anything at all.
The amount that the 9 panels generate is guaranteed by SunRun, so if they produce less than expected, it doesn’t change the economics in the leasing deal. I’m locking in electrical prices on that $35/ month from SunRun , with an inflation factor that is also locked, so if Eversource raises electrical rates higher than the inflation rate, I’ve at least got SunRun locked at a known future rate schedule.
But the big deal to me is, this makes the $9,400 cost of HIS go away. That’s a huge savings. So even if the solar isn’t a big generator of energy, at least I saved the $9,400 on upfront costs.
I just have to live with a $35/month bill from SunRun, which seems like peanuts compared to what I am getting from them with the HIS and the solar panels.

am I missing something?

 

[VTbuckeye]

Thanks for the feedback. I have a friend who has the Tesla leasing solar deal too, and he’s been totally happy with it. Like Tesla, SunRun takes care of the upkeep, and the homeowner doesn’t have to do anything at all.
The amount that the 9 panels generate is guaranteed by SunRun, so if they produce less than expected, it doesn’t change the economics in the leasing deal. I’m locking in electrical prices on that $35/ month from SunRun , with an inflation factor that is also locked, so if Eversource raises electrical rates higher than the inflation rate, I’ve at least got SunRun locked at a known future rate schedule.
But the big deal to me is, this makes the $9,400 cost of HIS go away. That’s a huge savings. So even if the solar isn’t a big generator of energy, at least I saved the $9,400 on upfront costs.
I just have to live with a $35/month bill from SunRun, which seems like peanuts compared to what I am getting from them with the HIS and the solar panels.

am I missing something?

9400/$35= 268 months. It looks like either you get a free his or free solar...even if the solar brings in no actual power.

 

[Pjlightning]

9400/$35= 268 months. It looks like either you get a free his or free solar...even if the solar brings in no actual power.

right! And even if you planned to buy the equipment from SunRun and install it yourself, to do it at less than $9,400 price from SunRun,
if SunRun will do this deal, with Solar involved, (if you don’t already have solar)
why bother trying to install HIS yourself with the upfront cost.

seems like a no brainer?

as much as I don’t love the way Ford has left us in the lurch on these chargers not coming in time for delivery of the truck, and forcing us to deal with a third party at all,
If someone doesn’t yet have Solar, this SunRun deal gives us a great way to get the HIS features of the truck, at no upfront costs.
I don’t see the downside.

 

[Ken]

ask them what happens when you decide to sell the house, I think the new owner has to agree to the solar agreement, it can cause issues there. Leases are a middle ground method to get solar, it's better than nothing, but owning the panels is much better. You will pay more than the cost of the panels over the lifetime with a lease.

 

[Pjlightning]

ask them what happens when you decide to sell the house, I think the new owner has to agree to the solar agreement, it can cause issues there. Leases are a middle ground method to get solar, it's better than nothing, but owning the panels is much better. You will pay more than the cost of the panels over the lifetime with a lease.

I follow you on the advantages of owning your own panels, with the tax credits,etc,
But when a Ford Lightning owner is getting a free HIS out of the deal, it seems that trumps any cost difference you might otherwise benefit from in ownership of the solar panels.

on the sale of the house question, my friend with the Tesla leased panels is selling his house right now, and his realtor has said it won’t be an issue.

 

[merek]

That sounds too good to be true.

The entire solar industry has been known to be almost predatory in some of their business practices, especially leasing. I would be very very careful with what they are trying to sell you.

Also, it becomes a more difficult issue when you sell your house, as well as things like removal of panels at the end of the lease.


I honestly don't trust any of them, and that turned me off of entertaining Sunrun -- the entire industry is pretty crooked sleazy.

Also, aprox 25% of all solar costs goes to advertising and customer acquisition costs. That's why they hard sell so much, have door to door salesmen, etc. Sunrun pays about $1 per kw of capacity for customer acquisition. Might not sound like a big deal, but ultimately, you're paying for it in their pricing structure.

 

[PV2EV]

There are local and regional outfits that are straightforward. An easy way to sort them out is to find one that does not lease. The larger companies have issues. All of them oversell the tax advantage.

 

[Pjlightning]

That sounds too good to be true.

The entire solar industry has been known to be almost predatory in some of their business practices, especially leasing. I would be very very careful with what they are trying to sell you.

Also, it becomes a more difficult issue when you sell your house, as well as things like removal of panels at the end of the lease.


I honestly don't trust any of them, and that turned me off of entertaining Sunrun -- the entire industry is pretty crooked sleazy.

Also, aprox 25% of all solar costs goes to advertising and customer acquisition costs. That's why they hard sell so much, have door to door salesmen, etc. Sunrun pays about $1 per kw of capacity for customer acquisition. Might not sound like a big deal, but ultimately, you're paying for it in their pricing structure.

my gut instinct was the same. Very suspicious of any lease arrangements, especially for things bolted onto my roof.

but Ford has gotten into bed with SunRun pretty deeply, and it seems like it would be extremely embarrassing for Ford to have SunRun out there putting the screws to people with Ford’s blessing of sorts, having structured this whole thing as they launch the “most important vehicle since the Model T”.

Still, I’m cautious and looking for trip wires here. I’d love to hear from one person who has actually gone through with this lease arrangement with SunRun to get the free HIS deal.
So far it doesn’t seem there’s anyone on this site that has actually done this deal.

 

[Amps]

All of them oversell the tax advantage.

I suspect that this is somewhat the opposite. The tax credits go to the installer and the tax benefits are largely the margins that make the high commission leasing sales model profitable. This, along with the stable long-term income received from the homeowner. The panel owner/installer here is probably aggregating tax credits, leveraging Renewable Energy Credits, and including equipment in their capital costs that may not otherwise be available to homeowners to include in residential installation costs:

"I can get you a new roof for free...."

 

[Labs4Lightning]

ask them what happens when you decide to sell the house, I think the new owner has to agree to the solar agreement, it can cause issues there. Leases are a middle ground method to get solar, it's better than nothing, but owning the panels is much better. You will pay more than the cost of the panels over the lifetime with a lease.

Most realtor will tell you it’s a headache to sell house with a solar lease.

‘’as for the maintaining. - it just sits there and generates electricity. Down the road a panel or module or inverter May fai, but no big deal to call solar repair in the rare event of failure.
7 years, 19 panels - not a single problem..

 

[metroshot]

Same here - I was promised a response from their escalations team by today at latest. Nothing. I'm taking delivery of my ER Lariet on Friday. This really sucks.

If I had an ER coming in and not knowing how long the wait will be while the 80A charger is going to be filled, I would have my electrician pre-wire it for 100A circuit now, put in a NEMA 14-50 outlet for the 32A charger that comes with the truck + 40A breaker.

Once you receive the 80A charger, have your electrician return and remove the outlet and hardwire it replacing it with 100A breaker.

Am I thinking this too much ??

 

[PACSMAN]

No, you're not over thinking it. I contacted my electrician over the weekend and asked him to install the 14-50 outlet until the 80 AMP charger comes in.

Until then I'm charging off 110v which adds about 2 miles per hour.

 

[Firestop]

If I had an ER coming in and not knowing how long the wait will be while the 80A charger is going to be filled, I would have my electrician pre-wire it for 100A circuit now, put in a NEMA 14-50 outlet for the 32A charger that comes with the truck + 40A breaker.

Once you receive the 80A charger, have your electrician return and remove the outlet and hardwire it replacing it with 100A breaker.

Am I thinking this too much ??

I agree with @PACSMAN. That’s what I’m going to do if the FCSP delay persists at the time my 6/10 Blend arrives…the question is….which delay is going to persist the longest. The only downside is the $100/hr additional labor charge for the second visit, which is why, I guess, Ford is giving $500 to defray charger installation costs to those who receiv their trucks on or before 6/30/22……

 

[TexasLightningOwner]

Has anyone received a FCSP without using Sunrun as the installer? I just need the charger, no install required. My wiring is ready to go. I reached out to Sunrun, but like most others, I have heard nothing.

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