Tesla has delayed the rollout of its solar roof — here's everything we know about the project so far
Elon Musk.Tesla
Tesla has delayed the rollout of its solar roof.
The company originally said it would begin selling its solar roof in April, but CEO Elon Musk said that two of the four shingle options wouldn't be made available until early 2018. A Tesla representative declined to comment further on why the timeline had changed.
Tesla unveiled its solar roof in late October, about a month before the company acquired SolarCity in a deal worth $2.1 billion. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the solar roof would be cheaper than a normal roof even before factoring in the price of electricity.
Here's everything we know about the new solar roof:
Tesla will offer four types of shingles to match different housing aesthetics in an effort to get homeowners to ditch clunky solar-panel add-ons in favor of a beautiful roof.
Here you see Tesla's textured-glass option.
See how it shimmers?
Tesla tucked the solar cells behind the glass ...
... and in doing so, you can't really tell the roof has solar cells. That's the crux of Tesla's solar-roof vision: to create something that's both aesthetically appealing and efficient.
Musk has been emphasizing the importance of competing on an aesthetic level when it comes to the new solar product.
"First of all, I’ve never seen a solar roof that I would actually want … they're weird," Musk said in November. "Every one of them that I’ve seen is worse than a normal roof, without exception. So unless you’re going to beat a roof on aesthetics, why bother?"
"My roof is a French slate roof, that’s one of the tile styles I wanted to do," Musk said. "And we were able to get that. Super hard.”
Musk has said that each French slate tile was made using a process known as hydrographic coloring, which uses water to apply printed designs.
"The production process itself makes each tile specially unique, it’s sort of a special snowflake tile," Musk said at the unveiling.
Tesla's hydrographic process is being overseen by a brand-new Tesla glass-tech division. The process uses techniques from the automotive-glass business.
You can read more about Tesla's new glass division here.
Musk said the solar roof could cost less than a traditional roof but still hasn't given specific pricing information. But Lyndon Rive, SolarCity's former CEO, said in November, "We think we can get to that price point of 40 cents a Watt over time in large scale" for the solar cells, which would put it in line with the competition.
"We’ll have the best cell at the lowest price. Just as we have the best battery cell at the lowest price," Musk said. "We have the highest energy density cell at the lowest price."
Rive said on the call that the solar roof would most likely not fall under a lease or power purchase agreement but instead as a straightforward loan. "In that case, there is no asset ownership challenge. We would just transfer the ownership to the new homeowner," he said.
Tesla's smooth glass tile is meant to offer "more of a modern look," Musk said at the event.
Unlike the textured-glass tile and French slate, the smooth glass tile seen here was designed so you could see the solar cells from certain angles.
"From the vantage point of the street or anywhere near the house it looks completely opaque, but to the sun it’s transparent," Musk said.
Lastly, Tesla's Tuscan glass tile. The roof shown at the event wasn't exclusively made up of Tesla's Tuscan tile. Instead, only the darker tiles seen here come with the solar cells.
Like the smooth glass tile, Musk made a point of showing how looking at the Tuscan tile from different angles will determine whether you can see the solar cell.
Musk didn't say which solar roof options will go up for sale first. But two will be made available for purchase in the coming weeks while customers wait for the shingles coming in early 2018.
Musk also tweeted that the solar-glass tiles can incorporate heating elements to clear snow while generating energy. He said it wouldn't be energy intensive to melt the snow, but "strongly net positive" in an October 28 tweet.
The solar cells will be produced at a plant in Buffalo, New York.
Tesla and Panasonic will produce the solar cells at the Buffalo manufacturing facility in mid-2017. Tesla is referring to the Buffalo plant as Gigafactory 2.
Musk's solar roof is one of several energy products Tesla is offering now that it has merged with SolarCity.
Tesla also sells Powerwall 2, its at-home battery, and Powerpack 2, its commercial battery.
Get the latest Tesla stock price here.
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