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Walmart, Tesla settle lawsuit over solar panel fires

San Francisco, Nov 6


Walmart has agreed to drop a lawsuit against Tesla over widespread negligence after rooftop solar panel systems on seven of the retailers stores allegedly caught fire.

"Walmart and Tesla are pleased to have resolved the issues raised by Walmart concerning the Tesla solar installations at Walmart stores. Safety is a top priority for each company and with the concerns being addressed, we both look forward to a safe re-energisation of our sustainable energy systems," the companies said in a joint statement.

The lawsuit was aimed at Tesla Energy Operations, a division within the clean energy and electric vehicle automaker which was known as SolarCity.

Walmart's lawyers accused SolarCity of adopting "an ill-considered business model that required it to install solar panel systems haphazardly and as quickly as possible in order to turn a profit" in the explosive complaint, The Verge reported on Tuesday.

Additionally, the lawyers also alleged in the lawsuit that Tesla did not properly handle Walmart's complaints about the fires.

Musk had recently unveiled the third version of Tesla's solar-roof product and the company hopes to install the first one in large numbers.

According to Musk, this third iteration of the electricity-generating house-topper will be cheaper, easier, and faster to install than its predecessors.

The company said that it has increased power density in the third version of the Solar Roof tiles, reduced the parts used in the tiles by half and brought down costs substantially compared to the second generation tiles.