Tesla released today all the information to order its new solar roof tiles products – starting with the smooth black glass tiles and the textured glass tiles, as reported earlier today.
Of course, the most important information that people were waiting for is price. CEO Elon Musk first hinted that it would be cheaper than a regular roof after accounting for energy savings, and later said that Tesla’s solar roof could cost less than a regular roof – even before energy production.
Tesla pretty much delivered on both depending on how you look at it.
The company says that the “typical homeowner can expect to pay $21.85 per square foot for a Solar Roof.”
What is important to understand is that not all tiles on the roof would be solar tiles. It depends on the energy needs of the household and shading coming from structural items such as dormers. For the house pictured above, all the tiles are from Tesla, but only some of them have solar cells in them that can generate electricity – though it’s not visible from street view.
The $21.85 per square foot price point was calculated for a roof where 35 percent of the tiles are solar (solar tiles cost more per square foot than non-solar tiles). During a conference call with journalists today, Musk said that in some cases, depending on the roofs, customers will be able to have up to 70% solar tiles, but in most cases, it will be about 40%.
They released a calculator directly on their website, which any homeowner in the US can use to get an estimate based on data from Google’s Sunroof project. Here’s an example for a home in Maryland with both 70% solar coverage and 40% solar coverage:
Ultimately, Tesla sees that most customers will essentially be paid to have a new roof, when accounting for energy generation and the solar incentive.
They are including an installed 14kWh Powerwall 2 in the quotes. It can be removed, but Tesla believes that most people will want to have the home battery pack for backup energy in case of an outage.
Tesla broke down the cost of both its solar tiles and non-solar tiles against traditional roof solutions.
The company estimates that its non-solar tiles are cheaper than regular tiles and its solar tiles are cheaper than anything else, but only when accounting for energy generation (actual cost of solar tiles is $42/sq-ft):
The value of Tesla’s solar roof is closely linked to its durability and its ability to generate electricity over decades.
Musk previously discussed the possibility of making the warranty last for the lifetime of the house on which it is installed and they actually did it:
“Made with tempered glass, Solar Roof tiles are more than three times stronger than standard roofing tiles. That’s why we offer the best warranty in the industry – the lifetime of your house, or infinity, whichever comes first.”
That’s for the tiles themselves. The solar power generation is guaranteed for 30 years, which is on the higher end in the solar panel industry:
During a conference call with journalists, Musk and Peter Rive reiterated their confidence in the new product’s durability, which ultimately, of course, is reflected in the warranty.
They put these through every test imaginable, including shooting a large ball of hail:
The first two tiles, smooth and textured, are going into production this summer. They decided to go with those tiles first because they received the highest number of inquiries.
A $1,000 USD deposit is required when ordering a system online now. Homeowners outside of the US can also order, but they should not expect installation until next year. Musk said that he expects strong demand and for the company to be production constrained on the tiles.
Tesla says that it will manage the entire “Solar Roof experience—from the removal of your existing roof through design, permitting, installation, operations and maintenance of the new Solar Roof.” The company estimates that the installation should take roughly the same time to install as a tile roof installation, which is typically 5-7 days.
They recently updated their mobile app in order to prepare for the integration of the solar products and the Powerwall.
Musk concluded the press call by saying: “When you think of a sustainable energy future, you want roofs to be beautiful and generate energy from the sun. That energy can then charge Powerwalls and electric vehicles. That’s the future we want.”
Tesla solar roof products are perfect for homeowners who want solar and need a new roof relatively soon, but a regular solar panel installation is still a good solution for people who don’t need a new roof. Solar and energy storage prices are highly dependent on your market (electricity cost, gov incentives, etc.) and your property. We suggest to get quotes from more than one installer to make sure you get the best energy solution for your place. UnderstandSolar is a great free service to link you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates for free.
Sabotage101 on May 10th, 2017 at 21:54 UTC »
I think that math neglects to value the opportunity cost of spending more money up front on a solar roof that could've been invested elsewhere and earning more money than the roof could.
E.g. if a solar roof's net cost is $50k(after tax breaks), a regular roof is $20k, and the solar roof generates $65k in electricity, you'd make $15k over 30 years on an investment of $30k in your solar roof. If you buy a regular roof instead and invest that $30k in something that makes even just a 5% annual ROI, you'd have $129.66k after 30 years, or a gain of $99.66k. That changes the value of the solar roof from netting you $15k to costing you about $85k. See edit for fixed numbers. I boned this up by not re-investing the Tesla roof's savings over time vs treating it as a lump sum at the end of 30 years.
That's not even accounting for the likely depreciation in the value of electricity as more efficient technology makes it cheaper to produce, since the energy value projection they give is, presumably, based on the value of electricity today.
*Edit: Several people commented that this doesn't include reinvesting the monthly savings over time vs getting it in a lump sum at the end of 30 years, which is a great point and something I completely missed. If I split out the 5% ROI to a monthly 1.004074% gain over 360 months, and assume an electric bill of $180.56 per month(65000/360), a $50k Tesla roof would net $17562.38 more than a $20k standard roof at the end of 30 years. This still doesn't make any attempt at guessing the value of electricity over time, and I think 5% ROI is fairly conservative(the breakeven point is around 6.2% given these numbers), but there's a hell of a lot more parity than I was initially giving it credit for.
Damaniel2 on May 10th, 2017 at 21:42 UTC »
I ran my relatively modest 1-story house through the calculator, and the base price of the roof was nearly $60k. Even with the generated solar and rebates, it would take nearly 50 years to break even.
Nice idea, but I think it's going to be limited to wealthy folks who consider that kind of money merely an incidental expense.
TomCruiseDildo on May 10th, 2017 at 19:52 UTC »
The company says that the “typical homeowner can expect to pay $21.85 per square foot for a Solar Roof.”
How does this compare to a traditional roof?