Tesla Powerwall
Home battery in Networking & smart home
Recommended for backup power during outages and bill savings alongside solar. Common caveat: critics call it overpriced and cite high failure rates.
Recommended for backup power during outages and bill savings alongside solar. Common caveat: critics call it overpriced and cite high failure rates.
41 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 24
- approval share
- 41%
Recommended in 10 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 3 years
Median of the 6 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.7 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 10 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Keeps home powered during outages
“Since installing the batteries a couple years our home has stayed warm and lit through two multi-day outages”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “In Australia, a Home Battery Boom Has Helped Cut Wholesale Power Prices in Half” “I can run nearly any amount of GPUs for free, and never worry about power outages”
Comment from 24 Jul 2026 in “UK households free to install plug-in balcony solar panels from end of August” “I have piece of mind for power in a rural area”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Vermont replacing power plants with home batteries” Cuts bills and adds independence
“since 5 years they have 2x EVs and 2x Powerwalls and are self-sufficient for 80% of the year”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “Solar Energy Saves Europeans $135M a Day” “it's giving us a real degree of independence and instant and massive bill reductions”
Comment from 20 Mar 2026 in “BYD's bet on EVs is paying off as drivers ditch gas amid rising oil prices” “a Powerwall would roughly pay for itself over the speced lifespan of the device”
Comment from 1 Nov 2026 in “Bidirectional charging during grid outages” Well built and compact
“they provide the best value for money, and are impressive pieces of equipment”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “What a year of solar and batteries saved us in 2025” “I think they're fantastic and pretty compact for what they are”
Comment from 17 Aug 2026 in “Buy Your Friends Batteries” “Tesla's home battery systems are pretty well built”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Vermont replacing power plants with home batteries” Powerwall 3 has fast transfer switching
“I currently have enphase micro inverters and a power wall 2. It was the right mix at the time.”
Comment from 25 Feb 2026 in “Following 35% growth, solar has passed hydro on US grid” “they released a home battery with a sub 10 ms ATS which is necessary for seamless in-house grid/off grid transition”
Comment from 9 Jun 2026 in “We Think the SpaceX IPO Is Overvalued” “they have a very impressive inrush and solar capacity”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “What a year of solar and batteries saved us in 2025”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Overpriced for what it offers
“Now they are overpriced but up until 2022/3 they were the best value unit.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “What a year of solar and batteries saved us in 2025” “They would just grab the same cells or cheaper and some other off the shelf components and sell them to you at massive markup.”
Comment from 19 Feb 2026 in “Tesla announces Powerwall 3P with native three-phase inverter” “Paying a tesla tax to waste extra power AND not be sure they'll be charged in the event of an outage”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “Tesla announces Powerwall 3P with native three-phase inverter” - Comment from 12 Aug 2026 in “SpaceXAI's Grok 4.6 Scores 61 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index”
- Comment from 27 Nov 2025 in “Pakistan says rooftop solar output to exceed grid demand in some hubs next year”
- Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “What a year of solar and batteries saved us in 2025”
High failure rate reported
“PW3 has very high failure rate ~10%+RMA, not good enough IMO to be in the path of power at my house.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “What a year of solar and batteries saved us in 2025” “Those tesla wall packs will be a massive headache when they give up the ghost.”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Vermont replacing power plants with home batteries”
What people said
40 of the 52 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a Powerwall would roughly pay for itself over the speced lifespan of the device”
“Tesla's home battery systems are pretty well built”
“there's no option to buy-out the equipment at the end”
“Those tesla wall packs will be a massive headache when they give up the ghost.”
“Batteries are nice. And I'm glad it wasn't only used for my needs.”
“I have piece of mind for power in a rural area”
“I think they're fantastic and pretty compact for what they are”
“Since installing the batteries a couple years our home has stayed warm and lit through two multi-day outages”
“Expensive electric cars, powerwalls, solar roofs when competetive products/better are cheaper.”
“I can run nearly any amount of GPUs for free, and never worry about power outages”
“since 5 years they have 2x EVs and 2x Powerwalls and are self-sufficient for 80% of the year”
“they released a home battery with a sub 10 ms ATS which is necessary for seamless in-house grid/off grid transition”
“the PowerWall still suffers from that worst of all tech bro sins of trying to limit YOUR access to YOUR data”
“After being ignored for months (someone was supposed to contact us regarding the installation)”
“it's giving us a real degree of independence and instant and massive bill reductions”
“tesla isn't great value any more. For a while powerwalls were the shit And the powerwall three is nice, with direct DC charging as well as islanding.”
“I currently have enphase micro inverters and a power wall 2. It was the right mix at the time.”
“you only really need one Powerwall 3, because the car when charged acts as ~7+ powerwalls worth of backup”
“Paying a tesla tax to waste extra power AND not be sure they'll be charged in the event of an outage”
“They would just grab the same cells or cheaper and some other off the shelf components and sell them to you at massive markup.”
“they are extremely buggy and the software has poor functionality”
“IMO their software is worth $1k”
“$15k for only 13 kWh is not a sustainable price point.”
“Have you heard of anyone installing a Powerwall recently?”
“Thats a 50% premium to get you 185 LRA but 8 kWh less capacity.”
“they have a very impressive inrush and solar capacity”
“This is why the powerwall setup doesnt make any sense.”
“Now they are overpriced but up until 2022/3 they were the best value unit.”
“PW3 has very high failure rate ~10%+RMA, not good enough IMO to be in the path of power at my house.”
“Powerwalls don't uniquely solve any problems other brands can't do.”
“they provide the best value for money, and are impressive pieces of equipment”
“this is really dumb to have inverters tied directly to each powerwall battery”
“Your point that they are overpriced still stands though.”
“Why do people still go for tesla powerwalls when you can get BYD batteries”
“According to Wikipedia, Tesla Powerwall 3 has 13.5 kWh of capacity”
“it's almost as if risk assessment doesn't matter to Tesla, at least not as much as aesthetics”
“A Tesla Powerwall 3 installed is about €11,000, No way that is worth it.”
“tesla is weak on power electronics for the industrial scale sites, too”
“I bet all contracts are conveniently missing the word "guaranteed"”
“they're one of the worst current brands in the world market”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.