# Tesla Powerwall

17 Hacker News commenters recommended Tesla Powerwall and 24 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 10 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 3 years (6 owners).

**Verdict:** Recommended for backup power during outages and bill savings alongside solar. Common caveat: critics call it overpriced and cite high failure rates.

## Why people recommend it

- Keeps home powered during outages (3 comments): "Since installing the batteries a couple years our home has stayed warm and lit through two multi-day outages" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49299629)) "I can run nearly any amount of GPUs for free, and never worry about power outages" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49030672)) "I have piece of mind for power in a rural area" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49903591))
- Cuts bills and adds independence (3 comments): "since 5 years they have 2x EVs and 2x Powerwalls and are self-sufficient for 80% of the year" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48469018)) "it's giving us a real degree of independence and instant and massive bill reductions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47459875)) "a Powerwall would roughly pay for itself over the speced lifespan of the device" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50327767))
- Well built and compact (3 comments): "they provide the best value for money, and are impressive pieces of equipment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46604753)) "I think they're fantastic and pretty compact for what they are" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49334568)) "Tesla's home battery systems are pretty well built" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49908560))
- Powerwall 3 has fast transfer switching (3 comments): "I currently have enphase micro inverters and a power wall 2. It was the right mix at the time." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47157985)) "they released a home battery with a sub 10 ms ATS which is necessary for seamless in-house grid/off grid transition" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48456355)) "they have a very impressive inrush and solar capacity" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46611514))

## What people warn about

- Overpriced for what it offers (6 comments): "Now they are overpriced but up until 2022/3 they were the best value unit." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607914)) "They would just grab the same cells or cheaper and some other off the shelf components and sell them to you at massive markup." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47070842)) "Paying a tesla tax to waste extra power AND not be sure they'll be charged in the event of an outage" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47119642))
- High failure rate reported (2 comments): "PW3 has very high failure rate ~10%+RMA, not good enough IMO to be in the path of power at my house." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46607116)) "Those tesla wall packs will be a massive headache when they give up the ghost." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905822))

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Tesla+Powerwall+3+home+battery&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://www.tesla.com/powerwall)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Tesla Powerwall", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tesla-powerwall/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).