Tesla Solar Tiles Start Selling in April

When Tesla acquired SolarCity, they acquired a business that offers utility savings by installing Solar Panels on the roofs of houses. I know around my neighborhood there are a number of houses with these solar panels and I've always felt they made the house look ugly. SolarCity must have agreed because in April they will begin taking orders for Solar Tile Roofs, which add style to the savings of installing Solar Panels on your roof. Here's an article detailing the new product:

Tesla to start taking orders for ‘solar roof tiles’ next month, says Elon Musk

Tesla already started gathering a list of people interested in their new ‘solar roof tiles’ since the launch of the new product line last November, but now they are about ready to start taking orders. CEO Elon Musk confirmed today that they plan to open the order book in April. Based on Tesla’s ordering process for previous products, it means that the company will reveal more pricing information and options.

Musk already revealed that he expects Tesla’s solar roof to cost less than a regular roof – even before accounting for energy production. That’s, of course, when comparing the tiles with equivalent non-electricity generating options, like a slate solar tile roof versus a regular slate tile roof or Tuscan solar tile roof versus a regular Tuscan roof.

The four different styles of solar tiles that Tesla unveiled are not really comparable to regular shingles and therefore, people should not expect the price to be competitive with those kinds of roofs – at least not before energy production. Anyway, we should know more in April when Tesla starts taking orders. It makes sense that the company would start taking orders next month since it plans to start production this summer at the Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo.

Musk previously confirmed that Tesla plans to gradually start production with just one type of solar roof tile at a time and release a new one every few months. A backlog of orders could help them determine which roof is the more popular to convert to a solar roof and therefore, it could help them decide which one to bring to production first. The hype around Tesla’s solar roof is strong already thanks to some very bold claims that the company made, like 98% efficiency over standard solar module cells and that it could last “2-3 times longer than traditional roofs.” It will be interesting to see what they can deliver.

Article can be found here