Tesla Will Begin Taking Solar Tile Orders Next Month

Megalith

Megalith

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Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will start taking orders in April for his company’s solar roof tiles. Featuring the same efficiency of traditional solar power gathering cells, the tiles will come in four flavors: Tuscan glass, smooth glass, slate glass, and textured glass. The cost is supposed to be similar to putting up a traditional roof.

These are a key step in Tesla’s combined vision for its solar energy generation and storage business, along with its electric vehicle operations. The solar tiles are aimed at popularizing the tech, by turning it from something that appeals to hardcore techies and green energy enthusiasts, to a practical option for everyday homeowners just looking to either save money, increase the resale value of their homes, or just take more direct control over their energy needs. Tesla’s solar tile designs include four visual styles, which mimic four different types of traditional roofing material, but the company said that only one or two of these will be available at first.
 
I can't wait to see how these do in rainier/cloudier areas like mine. These are the kind of solar panels that could really push adoption.
 
Shmee said:
I can't wait to see how these do in rainier/cloudier areas like mine. These are the kind of solar panels that could really push adoption.
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QFT. It's past time for my house to get a new roof and I want to see how these perform (and cost) before getting it done. On the other hand, if it's cheaper than metal and more durable than traditional, Seattle weather be damned, I'm buying.
 
Shmee said:
I can't wait to see how these do in rainier/cloudier areas like mine. These are the kind of solar panels that could really push adoption.
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I'm sure this will sell better in south western states than it will other places.
 
Shmee said:
I can't wait to see how these do in rainier/cloudier areas like mine. These are the kind of solar panels that could really push adoption.
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Agreed! I want to see how they Handel colder, snoweir areas like Minnesota or Maine.
 
I'm still trying to figure out Musk's claim that, "The cost of the roof solution will be at or under that of a traditional new roof for a home – even before you factor in energy cost savings". The only thing I can think of is that it might possibly cost less than the most expensive metal roofs currently available. It certainly can't cost less than a typical asphalt shingled roof.
 
Creig said:
I'm still trying to figure out Musk's claim that, "The cost of the roof solution will be at or under that of a traditional new roof for a home – even before you factor in energy cost savings". The only thing I can think of is that it might possibly cost less than the most expensive metal roofs currently available. It certainly can't cost less than a typical asphalt shingled roof.
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I'm with you! I don't see how it would be able to compete with 20-30 year asphalt shingles.
I live in the midwest. My current roof is about 10 years old - we've had some heavy storms come through in the last few years so I might have some storm damage (not missing shingles, but parts of it look different to my untrained eyes. I would love to try these solar shingles out if it was somewhere in the ballpark of other shingles. Pair this up with a Tesla battery - oh yeah, it's Kool-Aid time! Where I live, I think I'd have about 6-8 months of decent light. Not sure about the late Fall/Winter time frame. If I got 60-70% and had my water heater using solar, that would be some nice savings.
Anyway, I'm curious as to the cost and am dragging my feet on my current roof.
 
I don't know how good these will be in rainy areas, but if you live in a place with lots of sun (pretty much the entire southern half of the country), if the prices is right, this is going to be a winner. I hope it works.
 
steakman1971 said:
I'm with you! I don't see how it would be able to compete with 20-30 year asphalt shingles.
I live in the midwest. My current roof is about 10 years old - we've had some heavy storms come through in the last few years so I might have some storm damage (not missing shingles, but parts of it look different to my untrained eyes. I would love to try these solar shingles out if it was somewhere in the ballpark of other shingles. Pair this up with a Tesla battery - oh yeah, it's Kool-Aid time! Where I live, I think I'd have about 6-8 months of decent light. Not sure about the late Fall/Winter time frame. If I got 60-70% and had my water heater using solar, that would be some nice savings.
Anyway, I'm curious as to the cost and am dragging my feet on my current roof.
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Keep in mind they're not comparing it to asphalt shingles. They're comparing it to slate roofs (among others) and from my quick search, it looks like asphalt is 1.50-4.00 per ft² vs 4.50-7.00 a ft²

No doubt this is targeting higher end houses for now.
 
I would rather have a seamless metal roof, with regular kyocera solar panels in the 10Kw range.
 
nilepez said:
Keep in mind they're not comparing it to asphalt shingles. They're comparing it to slate roofs (among others) and from my quick search, it looks like asphalt is 1.50-4.00 per ft² vs 4.50-7.00 a ft²

No doubt this is targeting higher end houses for now.
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Those costs seem way of. I get asphalt shingles for .70 per sq ft, or less.
My entire roof was done for less than 1500 bucks, all in. Included tiles, underpayment, other materials, permit, pizza, and a couple buddies. 2 days. Easy peasy. (pf course, i own multiple houses and am no stranger to working on them myself - or at least used to before getting sick)

Slate, also much less than the prices you quoted. Just online:

https://www.architecturaldepot.com/...ppcstrkid=1115274693&ppcsu=xhg7f5djqtopedhcra

and

http://www.houzz.com/photos/3881465...ake-Slate-traditional-siding-and-stone-veneer

at 1.59 tor 2.65, respectively.

Although I have seen the local places carry it for slightly less. (1.25 to 1.50 and building suppliers, not your typical HD or Lowes)

Add it other misc materials, you're still at 4500-5k

There is absolutely NO WAY Tesla will sell 1500 sq ft of these at less than 5k. Won't happen. If they do, I'll fight to be first in line.

But I feel it's marketing BS, like usual from companies. About equal to an average re-roof IF you buy the most expensive material available AND pay the most expensive labor costs AND the slowest workers AND have a 20 thousand square foot mansion to re-roof. And the company says "Wait, you mean not everyone has mansions? I thought that was typical...."
 
Creig said:
I'm still trying to figure out Musk's claim that, "The cost of the roof solution will be at or under that of a traditional new roof for a home – even before you factor in energy cost savings". The only thing I can think of is that it might possibly cost less than the most expensive metal roofs currently available. It certainly can't cost less than a typical asphalt shingled roof.
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The issue with traditional roofing materials, is the loss in damages. These solar tiles are said to be extremely strong, so very little product will be lost to damages while shipping..... That, and the fact that the roofing tile industry is incredibly inefficient and out of date, from manufacturing to packaging to shipping. Tesla intends to save a lot of money just by making an ultra-efficient company.

Edit: And yeah, they arent comparing to asphalt shingles. Sorry. It should be competitive with other roofing types though.
 
I am buying along with twin fusion reactors from Tesla!

200.webp
 
nilepez said:
Keep in mind they're not comparing it to asphalt shingles. They're comparing it to slate roofs (among others) and from my quick search, it looks like asphalt is 1.50-4.00 per ft² vs 4.50-7.00 a ft²

No doubt this is targeting higher end houses for now.
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You also need to take into account he weight of the roof, especially if you are in an earthquake zone. All that extra weight on top of your house can cause more damage when the house is shaking.

I was able to go from my old wood shingle roof to 40 year asphalt, since it was still within the weight design for the roof.
Even going to light weight tiles would have required structural re-enforcements which would have significantly raised the cost.
 
nutzo said:
You also need to take into account he weight of the roof
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This is what I want to know, currently I have a corrugated steel roof (common in Australia) but it needs replacing anyway (plus we're planning a small extension). I've currently got 2 by 6 roof joists every 15 inches or so, so it feels like it should be strong enough but I need to know the weight figures so a structural engineer can work it out and we get the changes designed. I'm not spending $30,000 on replacing it with another tin roof given the f'ing summers we've been having.


We also pay 0.36c per kw/h for electricity here and obviously have the aircon cranked a large proportion of the year so something that is absorbing heat and generating energy is a plus for us.
 
Pray you don't get any decent sized hail downfall. Pretty sure it's not going to hold up even once to hail.
 
I need to replace the lifetime tile roof because it's too heavy for the eaves and has broken a couple purlins (even though it was permitted for it). Can't wait for this to hit the market.
 
Wade88 said:
You don't want it to absorb heat, you want it to reflect it.
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Normally, yes, because by "absorbing" you mean converting IR to heat. But in this case, you absorb and convert to electricity, and if it was reflected you wouldn't get any electricity. Of course some still goes to heat, but the combination of reduction of light converted to heat and "Free" energy to power AC more than makes up for it.
 
nilepez said:
Keep in mind they're not comparing it to asphalt shingles. They're comparing it to slate roofs (among others) and from my quick search, it looks like asphalt is 1.50-4.00 per ft² vs 4.50-7.00 a ft²

No doubt this is targeting higher end houses for now.
Click to expand...
Ah, that makes more sense. Still, I am interested in their pricing when it becomes available. It's probably going to be outside my budget! I'm not a higher-end-home kind of guy.
 
uss enterprise said:
Those costs seem way of. I get asphalt shingles for .70 per sq ft, or less.
My entire roof was done for less than 1500 bucks, all in. Included tiles, underpayment, other materials, permit, pizza, and a couple buddies. 2 days. Easy peasy. (pf course, i own multiple houses and am no stranger to working on them myself - or at least used to before getting sick)

Slate, also much less than the prices you quoted. Just online:

https://www.architecturaldepot.com/...ppcstrkid=1115274693&ppcsu=xhg7f5djqtopedhcra

and

http://www.houzz.com/photos/3881465...ake-Slate-traditional-siding-and-stone-veneer

at 1.59 tor 2.65, respectively.

Although I have seen the local places carry it for slightly less. (1.25 to 1.50 and building suppliers, not your typical HD or Lowes)

Add it other misc materials, you're still at 4500-5k

There is absolutely NO WAY Tesla will sell 1500 sq ft of these at less than 5k. Won't happen. If they do, I'll fight to be first in line.

But I feel it's marketing BS, like usual from companies. About equal to an average re-roof IF you buy the most expensive material available AND pay the most expensive labor costs AND the slowest workers AND have a 20 thousand square foot mansion to re-roof. And the company says "Wait, you mean not everyone has mansions? I thought that was typical...."
Click to expand...

Those prices are the installed price (which IME is how most roofs are put on) and I can promise you that you're not going to install a Tesla roof. Maybe someday, but definitely not in the next few years.
 
steakman1971 said:
Ah, that makes more sense. Still, I am interested in their pricing when it becomes available. It's probably going to be outside my budget! I'm not a higher-end-home kind of guy.
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I think we all are. Like all brand new tech, it's going to be expensive at first, but let's be honest, most (all?) of us didn't think we were going to have aesthetically pleasing solar roofs anytime soon (ever?). Consumer reports thinks they have to be under 60-70k to make sense, so i'm guessing that some of these non-solar roofs are in that ballpark.

Whatever it is, I hope it succeeds, because that will bring down prices and eventually make solar accessible to most homeowners.
 
I don't think the "competitive pricing" includes the cost of the inverter that is needed to turn the DC into AC. And it certainly does not include any battery storage (aka, the power wall). So really, this is just virtue signaling at the moment, especially in the higher latitudes.
 
PaulP said:
I don't think the "competitive pricing" includes the cost of the inverter that is needed to turn the DC into AC. And it certainly does not include any battery storage (aka, the power wall). So really, this is just virtue signaling at the moment, especially in the higher latitudes.
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virtue signaling?
 
PaulP said:
Yes. This is when a person buys some "green tech" for the purpose of showing everybody else how virtuous they are. "Look, look, I'm saving the planet! I'm greener than thou."
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Yes, I agree. This is a thing.
I know others who pay twice for their solar than they ever did for their electricity. And they make sure EVERYONE and their grandmother knows that.

Yes, it may be virtuous and all that, saving the planet and all. And I'm all for the planet. I recycle like nobody's business. (3 large recycle bins, say 6 feet tall by a couple wide, for just my, my wife, and 2 kids - every week)

But, and I don't know if I'm in the minority or the majority, and either way, sorry if it comes out callous, but I'm in the business of saving my wallet first. Those who proclaim their virtuousness or whatever as stated above, just come across as elitist and preaching to me.

Either way, I hope they adopt quickly, and en masse. Thereby dropping the price into the affordability range for the rest of us. I'll wait.
 
PaulP said:
Yes. This is when a person buys some "green tech" for the purpose of showing everybody else how virtuous they are. "Look, look, I'm saving the planet! I'm greener than thou."
Click to expand...
If the roof is competitive with similarly styled roofs (even if the battery isn't included) then you'll make the money back (including the cost of the roof) over time. That said, a roof that looks like a normal roof doesn't scream green, which is the point. Many people don't really want a solar roof that looks like a solar roof.
 
uss enterprise said:
Yes, I agree. This is a thing.
I know others who pay twice for their solar than they ever did for their electricity. And they make sure EVERYONE and their grandmother knows that.

Yes, it may be virtuous and all that, saving the planet and all. And I'm all for the planet. I recycle like nobody's business. (3 large recycle bins, say 6 feet tall by a couple wide, for just my, my wife, and 2 kids - every week)

But, and I don't know if I'm in the minority or the majority, and either way, sorry if it comes out callous, but I'm in the business of saving my wallet first. Those who proclaim their virtuousness or whatever as stated above, just come across as elitist and preaching to me.

Either way, I hope they adopt quickly, and en masse. Thereby dropping the price into the affordability range for the rest of us. I'll wait.
Click to expand...
It's more like an early adopter of any tech. I can remember Ed Begley (sp) Jr. talking about Hybrids roughly 20 years ago, when the tech was super young and made no sense, but it's early adopters spending insane money on crap that pushes that tech down to us. Same thing happens with TVs (someone paid 25 grand for that 4k sony projector 6 years ago).

Most people aren't early adopters, but those that are pay for it and they tend to be vocal about what they like #marketing101
 
KarsusTG said:
I would like to see how these stand up to hail damage as well.
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We just had a damaging hail storm in sc. car hood and roof looks like a golf ball. Roof held up ok but still needs replaced. Gutters dented up, roof vent beaten up. How will this ho,d up and will it even be insurable.
 
Nukester said:
We just had a damaging hail storm in sc. car hood and roof looks like a golf ball. Roof held up ok but still needs replaced. Gutters dented up, roof vent beaten up. How will this ho,d up and will it even be insurable.
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Exackary. Drop 40k on solar shingles that are not even insurable and are destroyed the first time you get hail you are boned.
 
They have said the tiles can hold up to bad weather/hail no problem.
There is a video of them dropping like a 5lb weight on different tiles and the solar tile simple cracks as opposed to being completely destroyed like the others.

And why do you assume the solar roof won't be covered by insurance?
 
Shmee said:
I can't wait to see how these do in rainier/cloudier areas like mine. These are the kind of solar panels that could really push adoption.
Click to expand...

Most solar panels are more or less the same. It is most likely their battery storage that makes all the difference.
 
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