Amazon Joins Walmart in Saying Tesla Solar Panels Caught Fire

Dana Hull and Matt Day, Bloomberg News

Signage is displayed near a solar panel next to the entrance of the new Tesla Inc. showroom in New York, U.S., on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017. The Meatpacking District location, which opens to the public at 11 a.m. Friday, lets customers for the first time explore energy offerings, configure and place orders all under one roof. , Bloomberg via Getty Images

(Bloomberg) -- Walmart Inc. isn’t the only corporation that has seen its Tesla Inc. solar panels catch fire.

On Friday, Amazon.com Inc. said a June 2018 blaze on the roof of one of its warehouses in Redlands, California, involved a solar panel system that Tesla’s SolarCity division had installed. The Seattle-based retail giant said by email that it has since taken steps to protect its facilities and has no plans to install more Tesla systems.

News of the Amazon fire comes just three days after Walmart dropped a bombshell lawsuit against Tesla, accusing it of shoddy panel installations that led to fires at more than a half-dozen stores. The claims threaten to further erode Tesla’s solar business at a time when the company is fighting to gain back market share.

More widely known for its electric cars, Tesla bought panel installer SolarCity three years ago in a $2 billion deal that proved highly controversial. SolarCity’s chief executive officer at the time is the cousin of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

In the complaint filed Tuesday, Walmart said it had leased or licensed roof space at more than 240 stores to Tesla’s energy unit. Two of the Walmart fires occurred in May 2018. Amazon said it has a very small number of solar systems installed by Tesla.

Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but said earlier on Friday that it had discovered flaws in a part that the company had used in some of its systems. The part known as a “connector,” manufactured by Amphenol Corp., led to “failures and disconnections at a higher rate than our standards allow,” Tesla said in an emailed statement. The company has worked to replace it.

Amphenol did not respond to a request for comment.

--With assistance from Brian Eckhouse.

To contact the reporters on this story: Dana Hull in San Francisco at dhull12@bloomberg.net;Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Kara Wetzel