Supply chain breakdown

[solarix]

What is your current experience with your supply chain. Lets hear stories.
I just spent all morning today trying to procure a solar ready, SQ-D 200 panel. No dice. Gave up on the brand, gave up on the solar ready still no luck. Finally gave up on doing this panel change all together. The only combo service panels I can find are a few on EBAY selling for astronomical prices. Unbelievable.
The inverters we like to use are on allocation from my usual distributors and it feels like I am now living in a 2nd world country....

[SunEagle]

What is your current experience with your supply chain. Lets hear stories.
I just spent all morning today trying to procure a solar ready, SQ-D 200 panel. No dice. Gave up on the brand, gave up on the solar ready still no luck. Finally gave up on doing this panel change all together. The only combo service panels I can find are a few on EBAY selling for astronomical prices. Unbelievable.
The inverters we like to use are on allocation from my usual distributors and it feels like I am now living in a 2nd world country....

Unfortunately I think things will get worse with the Ukraine conflict because fuel prices will only go up.

[RichardCullip]

Not solar related but the supply chain has gotten between me and the Toyota Rav4 Prime I want to buy. Currently can't find any to buy in the greater San Diego area.

[J.P.M.]

Not solar related but the supply chain has gotten between me and the Toyota Rav4 Prime I want to buy. Currently can't find any to buy in the greater San Diego area.

And expect about a $5K bump in price from the dealer when you do find one due to supply and demand.

[Ampster]

I had a similar situation in September on a self install that included a Main panel changout. I had to pay full list from the only supplier that had a solar ready panel that met my specs. No one else had any in stock.

[J.P.M.]

I had a similar situation in September on a self install that included a Main panel changout. I had to pay full list from the only supplier that had a solar ready panel that met my specs. No one else had any in stock.

In the case of the Rav4 Prime, there may be additional other things at work besides material/chip shortages - product demand, dealer greed , and the fed. and state incentives among them.

[peakbagger]

My first Prime was bought at retail as the it was very new to the market, sadly I totaled it days after it being delivered. It took awhile for the settlement and I had to pay $3000 extra for the second one. Some of the pain went away as the insurance check was for the MSRP and I had a $7,500 tax credit for buying it, I got the same tax credit for the second one.

[J.P.M.]

My first Prime was bought at retail as the it was very new to the market, sadly I totaled it days after it being delivered. It took awhile for the settlement and I had to pay $3000 extra for the second one. Some of the pain went away as the insurance check was for the MSRP and I had a $7,500 tax credit for buying it, I got the same tax credit for the second one.

The fed. tax credit for eligible EV's is nice but I wonder how many folks have (or can generate) a $7,500 fed. income tax liability for the year they purchase an eligible vehicle (according to what I think the IRS has written, the vehicle tax credit cannot be carried forward to subsequent years - if not entirely used up in the year the vehicle is purchased, the owner loses what's not used). Or, in the case of a lease, the dealer, lease holder or other actual owner of the vehicle gets the incentive - not the leasee - with anything shared with the leasee a matter of good will on the dealer's part (yea, right) or to be negotiated.

In the meantime, at this time and location anyway, Toyota dealers in San Diego co. are getting about a 5 grand spiff on a Rav4 Prime on a purchase or bumping the lease terms accordingly while still keeping the incentive on a leased vehicle for the house.

At least partly because of supply issues as well as demand, they still can't keep Rav4 Primes on the lots.

The way it's looking around here, I'm having a hard time justifying the cost differential for any EV (or PHEV if I was in the market for one) at this time based on the fuel economics alone, but economics aside, that Taycan's looking better all the time.

[Ampster]

The fed. tax credit for eligible EV's is nice but I wonder how many folks have (or can generate) a $7,500 fed. income tax liability for the year they purchase an eligible vehicle .........

That may be true for many of the ignorant people often referred to on this forum. Fortunately those less ignorant are able to plan ahead sufficiently to manage their tax liability accordingly.
The median household income in the US is $67,500. That means more than half are above $67,000. Unless they have an aggressive tax strategy, many of them could have a Federal Tax liability of $7,500.

[peakbagger]

I have several equities with big potential captial gains, I just sold off enough to harvest gains to offset the two credits.

[SunEagle]

That may be true for many of the ignorant people often referred to on this forum. Fortunately those less ignorant are able to plan ahead sufficiently to manage their tax liability accordingly.

So you consider yourself in the upper class of intelligent people that knows better then the masses. For most people doing tax preparation is not in their wheel house or even understanding what a lease agreement actually costs them. Please try to understand that for most people a solar system or ev is beyond their ability to purchase let alone get a rebate back from the Fed.

[oregon_phil]

What is your current experience with your supply chain. Lets hear stories.
I just spent all morning today trying to procure a solar ready, SQ-D 200 panel. No dice. Gave up on the brand, gave up on the solar ready still no luck. Finally gave up on doing this panel change all together. The only combo service panels I can find are a few on EBAY selling for astronomical prices. Unbelievable.
The inverters we like to use are on allocation from my usual distributors and it feels like I am now living in a 2nd world country....

August 2021, I tried to buy a spare inverter from several places with no luck. Many places back then said they did not know when restocking would occur. I was fortunate to find a spare inverter through the company that was doing my generator installation.

[Ampster]

So you consider yourself in the upper class of intelligent people that knows better then the masses. For most people doing tax preparation is not in their wheel house or even understanding what a lease agreement actually costs them. Please try to understand that for most people a solar system or ev is beyond their ability to purchase let alone get a rebate back from the Fed.

Masses? I did not suggest that most people should be able to prepare their own taxes. However Peakbagger and I have apparently acquired the tools to manage a reasonable tax strategy. If that makes me more intelligent than the masses then my apologies. My household income is in the upper half of the US average of $67,500. That hardly qualifies me as upper class unless you consider those below $67,000 lower class.
I was actually referring to the reference to ignorant people by one of the posters here who holds the record for calling people ignorant. Perhaps you are correct that most people cannot I can't manage a simple strategy to allocate resources to reduce tax liability. Other forums in which I participate have different demographics and seem to be populated by posters who at least understand the concept. But those forums may not represent "most" people.

[SunEagle]

I did not suggest that most people should be able to prepare their own taxes. However Peakbagger and I have apparently acquired the tools to manage a reasonable tax strategy. I was actually referring to the reference to ignorant people by one of the posters here who holds the record for calling people ignorant. Perhaps you are correct that most people cannot I can't manage a simple strategy to allocate resources to reduce tax liability. Other forums in which I participate have different demographics and seem to be populated by posters who at least understand the concept. But those forums may not represent "most" people.

While I am not familiar with the other forums I can say that this one includes members and guests from all over the world. Those outside the US are probably scratching their heads because of some of the posts but those that do understand what is being said also may not have a high income or even be able to afford an EV or solar system. I try to gear my posts to most of the people around the world and usually include Safety as my number one option.

I really hope solar comes down in price so more people can purchase a system as opposed to some people that can purchase just about anything due to their much higher income.

[J.P.M.]

That may be true for many of the ignorant people often referred to on this forum. Fortunately those less ignorant are able to plan ahead sufficiently to manage their tax liability accordingly.

As a respectful suggestion, lookup the definition of ignorant and stop embarrassing yourself.

The one (of several) that applies to situations and conditions I refer to in this forum is: "Lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified". Sounds to me that you're ignorant of that use of the word.
Also seems to me that you're ignorant of the idea that ignorant does not necessarily have a pejorative sense or meaning except maybe or usually when used in a colloquial context or conversation.

It does not mean stupid. It just means there is information someone is not aware of or familiar with. Like when folks show up here asking questions. Doing so does not mean folks asking questions are stupid or mentally deficient. It only means they don't know as much about something as they would like and they'd like to become less ignorant about it.

For what it's worth, I'm probably one of the most ignorant people walking this planet.
Additionally, as I get older, I learn there's a lot more I don't know than I thought existed.
But realizing that means I'm more ignorant than I once thought and getting more so by the minute. So (in the limit), the more I learn, the more I realize the ratio of what I know to what I don't know gets closer to zero.
At this rate, since I'm having so much fun learning stuff and also realizing how phenomenally ignorant I really am, my goal in life is to die a pretty much complete, but happy moron (there are those - including my bride - who think I attained that status many years ago. BTW).

To your point of the less ignorant: I'd argue that as a group they're probably just as ignorant about most things as the rest of us (except for my ex-wife who's one of the smartest CPA's I ever met). Perhaps unfortunately or not, I'm pretty sure that for a lot of those who you call less ignorant, tax planning for a $7,500 windfall is a pretty pointless endeavor because they'll have a very low probability of generating that much of a tax bill. But from what you write and how you write it, it may be that those less well-heeled folks are not on your radar or in your stream of consciousness.

Without trying to be patronizing about it, my comment about the non-carryover of IRS vehicle incentives was written with those folks who are not as familiar with the IRS tax code as some others in mind. Even for those folks who are able to (and, fortunately for them), and find it necessary to do tax planning on that scale, I'm sure there are at least a few folks who don't know about the non-carry over and are therefore ignorant of that aspect of the tax code. For those who do, my usual applies:

Take what you want of the above. Scrap the rest.