When thinking of Tesla, electric cars or their much-anticipated semi-trucks likely come to mind, but the company is also in the solar roof business, developing the Tesla solar roof with unique tiles to capture energy from the sun in an effort to make the sustainable energy option more accessible – and appealing – to the masses.
Tesla is promising consumers “beautiful solar” panels that complement a home’s architecture. The glass solar tiles collect energy throughout the day and store the resulting electricity in the proprietary Powerwall battery, allowing the homeowner to use the power at any time. As Tesla puts it, this “effectively turn[s the] home into a personal utility.”
Tesla offers several types of tile — textured, Tuscan, slate, and smooth — all so durable that they come with an “infinity” warranty. Prototypes of the roof tile were unveiled in October 2016, after Tesla added solar to its product portfolio with the $2 billion purchase of SolarCity, a company founded by Peter and Lyndon Rive, two of Elon Musk’s cousins.
Tesla began taking $1,000 preorders for the textured and smooth styles in May 2017 and started shipping some orders in 2018. Yet by May 31, 2018, Reuters reported only 12 Tesla solar roofs were on the grid in California. In the third-quarter Tesla earnings call, Elon Musk reported that there were “several hundred homes with the Solar Roof on them,” but the company later walked this back to say that he had included partial installs and those scheduled for installation in that figure.
Production Cloudy for Tesla’s Solar Panels
As with the company’s other products, production woes have plagued Tesla’s solar initiative. In August, Reuters reported assembly line problems coupled with “difficulties producing a product that satisfies the demands of CEO Elon Musk.”
At a June shareholder meeting, Musk blamed the need for extensive testing. “There’s only so much accelerated life testing that you do on a roof. So before we can deploy it to a large number of houses we need to make sure that… all elements of the roof are going to last for at least three decades,” Musk said.
Tesla Solar Roof Cost
Other challenges stem from consumer reluctance to pay the hefty price tag. The Tesla solar roof cost is at $42 per square foot. The company recommends that roofs are 35% covered in solar tiles, with the remainder done in $11 non-solar tiles; while this does bring costs down, it still means that Tesla solar roof panels cost an extra $21.85 per square foot. For a 2,500-square-foot home, that comes out to approximately $54,000.
“They are significantly overpriced,” said Pritil Gunjan, senior research analyst for Navigant. “[Tesla] would need to deal with cost issues first before ramping up their production.”
Tri Huynh, owner of a Tesla Model 3, had a Tesla Solar Roof installed onto his San Jose home in early 2018. The cost was about $100,000. Though his summer power bill fell from “around $400” to “only $40,” he said, “I don’t think this will ever pay for itself, honestly.”
However, there is a tax credit available in the United States for solar panels. Homeowners may currently qualify to deduct 30% of the costs from their taxes. The credit rate is dropping, though, to 22% in 2021 and 26% in 2022.
In a January 2019 message to employees, Musk acknowledged, “We face an extremely difficult challenge: making our cars, batteries, and solar products cost-competitive with fossil fuels. While we have made great progress, our products are still too expensive for most people.”
Tesla, meanwhile, says it will be scaling up solar roof production in 2019. Sanjay Shah, SVP of energy operations, stated that Tesla’s business side would see “tremendous growth in 2019.” The Buffalo Gigafactory is said to be operating 24/7 to work through the 11,000 orders taken through May 2018.
What’s Next for Tesla’s Solar Panels?
At a March 2019 event for Tesla Model Y, the brand’s crossover all-electric car, Musk said that 2019 would be the “year of the Solar Roof,” explaining that previous delays were caused by the difficulties that resulted from manufacturing the Model 3 sedan. Due to those challenges, Musk said, nearly all company resources were diverted to the Model 3.
Reservation-Holders Still in the Dark
Despite Musk’s March announcement, there is still no news of when reservation holders can expect their solar roofs. Tesla’s website currently has no date for its customers, only stating that initial trial installations are complete and installations are underway and are being installed "based on when the order was placed.”
Delays may be a result of the product’s extended installation time; Tesla said it should take roughly the same amount of time as a regular tile roof, which is about 5-7 days, but an installer has revealed the actual installation time is about two weeks.
Last we heard from Musk, 2019 would see a major solar roof rollout with the 3rd version of the product being developed, but as of August, there haven’t been any updates. As a result, the reservation holders are starting to withdraw from the wait until further notice.