Elon Musk is ready to conquer space, roads, roofs, and now even tunnels. Tesla is now going to start selling and installing solar roof tiles for U.S. customers this summer. It is set to begin accepting orders for glass roof tiles with embedded solar collectors.
Last week, Elon Musk announced, Tesla has developed a revolutionary solar roof that will have an infinity warranty. These solar roof made out of glass tiles embedded with photovoltaic cells and looks like a french slate. Worth of just $65,000 for the average 3,000 square foot roof, it can absorb some sun power with infinity warranty.
It has a power wall battery system in its complete package.
CEO of solar services company Geostellar pointed, “Tesla’s SolarRoof is just another of expensive toys for rich, green people. There’s about as much market for Tesla’s SolarRoof as there was for the $17,000 gold Apple Watch. But the problem is the Tesla’s SolarRoof isn’t particularly good as solar or as the roof.”
“Compare the $65,000 Tesla roof to what it would cost to re-shingle your average roof in 30-year asphalt tiles (about $7,000), plus a standard solar array ($22,000). You’d end up with a cheaper and higher-capacity system at half the cost. Keep in mind though that Tesla’s “cost” is merely at MRSP. No telling how much Tesla will lose on each one,“ he explained.
Tesla’s glass tiles will be the silver bullet to turn its solar business around. But Musk looks determined to make them anyway- with mass production planned at Tesla’s Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, N.Y. It’ll be the biggest solar panel factory in the western hemisphere. Tesla did upon acquiring SolarCity was to end its practice of door-to-door sales. And the practice becomes successful in generating contracts, but high-pressure sales tactics have drawn complaints.
Musk said, “The Solar Roofs needed to be beautiful, affordable and fully integrated in a seamless way. Around five million new roofs are built each year in the US. if SolarRoofs were slowly implemented onto these new homes, you’d have a dramatic change in the amount of solar power that was being collected. For those looking for adding solar energy to their current roofs, Tesla is also offering more traditional Solar Panels.”
The company’s main mission is to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable energy future by creating products that are so compelling, there is no alternative.