Tesla opens pre-orders for the solar roof tiles

[ChineseChef]

Just now, HalGameGuru said:

This is actually disappointing to me. I was h oping to finally have a genuine market solution for solar roofing for my future house. With this kind of pricing though it would be cheaper to shingle with steel and get solar cells. I do hope they improve costs down the line. If it gets to a decent $/sq.ft. it will be a true contender. And I mean without tax incentives or credits. 

Main thing holding lots of people back is the fear of spending a huge amount and some advancement coming along in 5 years that cuts the price in half and doubles the performance.  The tech is still new, so spending 50k, expecting to make it back in 30 years isn't bad.  But spending 50k only to have a system that is twice as good come out before you have even barely begun to pay off your system is disheartening.  Plus, like you said, 50k is not cheap, especially for old construction.  New construction it definitely makes sense though.

[Soonercoop]

And now we wait ten years until these solar roofs, power walls, and electric cars are affordable or applicable to most people.

[Eaglerino]

Too bad my neighbors have a dumb dead tree overshadowing my entire yard that they won't cut down. I'm hoping it finally breaks and kills my dog or something so I can sue them into oblivion and get panels or solar shingles put up

[ChineseChef]

7 minutes ago, Eaglerino said:

Too bad my neighbors have a dumb dead tree overshadowing my entire yard that they won't cut down. I'm hoping it finally breaks and kills my dog or something so I can sue them into oblivion and get panels or solar shingles put up

So, what did your dog do to warrant such ill will?

[Soonercoop]

6 minutes ago, Eaglerino said:

Too bad my neighbors have a dumb dead tree overshadowing my entire yard that they won't cut down. I'm hoping it finally breaks and kills my dog or something so I can sue them into oblivion and get panels or solar shingles put up

This post accurately summarizes America

[dizmo]

Pretty neat, can't wait to see this really take off. I'd be nice to see some towns make it mandatory on new builds where it will get a decent amount of efficiency.

 

1 hour ago, CostcoSamples said:

That settles it, I'm building a new house next year!  

Hopefully you don't pour the foundation anywhere near the winter like a lot of idiots

1 hour ago, raphidy said:

30 years for return after investment is kinda meh and you need to change your powerwall twice in those years. Only for people with money to burn.

And your regular roofs return how much? Oh right, nothing.

53 minutes ago, HalGameGuru said:

-snip-

Random people living in places where electricity is cheap and this roof would cost half again the cost of the house? Better to simply retrofit traditional solar cells.

Oh man...I can only dream of places with housing as cheap as that!

49 minutes ago, HalGameGuru said:

This is actually disappointing to me. I was h oping to finally have a genuine market solution for solar roofing for my future house. With this kind of pricing though it would be cheaper to shingle with steel and get solar cells. I do hope they improve costs down the line. If it gets to a decent $/sq.ft. it will be a true contender. And I mean without tax incentives or credits. 

Are the solar cells anywhere near as efficient though?

29 minutes ago, Eaglerino said:

Too bad my neighbors have a dumb dead tree overshadowing my entire yard that they won't cut down. I'm hoping it finally breaks and kills my dog or something so I can sue them into oblivion and get panels or solar shingles put up

I'm pretty sure you still get pretty good efficiency even without sunlight.

[shermantanker]

1 hour ago, raphidy said:

30 years for return after investment is kinda meh and you need to change your powerwall twice in those years. Only for people with money to burn.

if you deduct the cost of the roof from the $50,000, and you may need to change that roof out at least once within that 30 years. So there is that to consider too.

[raphidy]

37 minutes ago, dizmo said:

And your regular roofs return how much? Oh right, nothing.

Yeah, solar road also nothing, we should plaster solar panels on cars, road also and every inch of this planet so we have use that free energy.

[dizmo]

2 minutes ago, raphidy said:

Yeah, solar road also nothing, we should plaster solar panels on cars, road also and every inch of this planet so we have use that free energy.

Solar roads? What are you talking about? That's an entirely different technology and application.

A lot of cars already have solar panels built into the roof to power auxiliary electronics...

There's nothing wrong with making the most use of space we're already using anyway, and it'll reduce the strain on the grid.

If you think that we can just keep buying electronics and plugging more things in without serious consequences you have absolutely no idea how the world works.

[HalGameGuru]

42 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Pretty neat, can't wait to see this really take off. I'd be nice to see some towns make it mandatory on new builds where it will get a decent amount of efficiency.

 

Hopefully you don't pour the foundation anywhere near the winter like a lot of idiots

And your regular roofs return how much? Oh right, nothing.

Oh man...I can only dream of places with housing as cheap as that!

Are the solar cells anywhere near as efficient though?

I'm pretty sure you still get pretty good efficiency even without sunlight.

The tiles aren't any more efficient than cells, YET. they claim 98% efficiency of CURRENT solar cells. They just aren't an eyesore and will last longer with less maintenance.

 

Come to Texas. You can build or buy a nice single family home for as little as 60K depending on area and what you want to build with.

[Serin]

Was thinking - assuming these suckers are as durable as Tesla claims then why not just go find your roof after its been ripped off? Salvage as many of the panels as possible.

That said, for those of us who don't live and rebuild(endlessly) in parts of the world that kill buildings I'm all for this kind of thing. Its exciting!
 

[dizmo]

1 minute ago, HalGameGuru said:

The tiles aren't any more efficient than cells, YET. they claim 98% efficiency of CURRENT solar cells. They just aren't an eyesore and will last longer with less maintenance.

 

Come to Texas. You can build or buy a nice single family home for as little as 60K depending on area and what you want to build with.

I think lasting longer is a massive plus side. Aren't regular solar panels quite fragile?

 

There's a whole world of things I don't like about Texas even without going there. Under $100k though? So cheap!

Stupid laws and ignorance aside I'm sure it's a wonderful place though.

Do Texans go down to Mexico frequently for vacation? I mean, you are right there.

[raphidy]

24 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Solar roads? What are you talking about? That's an entirely different technology and application.

A lot of cars already have solar panels built into the roof to power auxiliary electronics...

There's nothing wrong with making the most use of space we're already using anyway, and it'll reduce the strain on the grid.

If you think that we can just keep buying electronics and plugging more things in without serious consequences you have absolutely no idea how the world works.

It's great innovation from Tesla, but if you want the mainstream market to adopt it, it should be cheap. Not everyone with average salary will buy this new roof tomorrow morning. The only thing I don't like about solar technology is that you have to store that huge battery somewhere near and depending on the use of it and the quality you should replace it between 5 to 10 years. It's just not affordable enough IMO.

[aubryscully]

43 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I think lasting longer is a massive plus side. Aren't regular solar panels quite fragile?

 

There's a whole world of things I don't like about Texas even without going there. Under $100k though? So cheap!

Stupid laws and ignorance aside I'm sure it's a wonderful place though.

Do Texans go down to Mexico frequently for vacation? I mean, you are right there.

I live in the Houston area and will say its pretty nice. Places like Waco have great scenery and housing is really cheap. Not many people want to go to Mexico due to safety reasons, but I do have a few friends (of hispanic descent) that travel down semiregularly to visit relatives.

[SansVarnic]

Been waiting, by the time I am ready to order they will be in production and lowered cost.

 

[HalGameGuru]

3 hours ago, dizmo said:

I think lasting longer is a massive plus side. Aren't regular solar panels quite fragile?

 

There's a whole world of things I don't like about Texas even without going there. Under $100k though? So cheap!

Stupid laws and ignorance aside I'm sure it's a wonderful place though.

Do Texans go down to Mexico frequently for vacation? I mean, you are right there.

I love it here. Super hot summers and all. Best cross section of food from around the world is here in spades.

 

A lot of people do vacation in Mexico, but Texas has so much within it you really don't HAVE to go elsewhere.

 

As for fragility newer designs are less fragile, from what is said about the big installations the bigger maintenance hurdle is cleaning and degradation. A lot of that is just because of how separated the development is from the production side. Tesla is doing it right, getting the production and development in the same house to get better results. it was bound to happen eventually, but if someone had started down that road with a clear plan 2 decades ago we may have had a lot more progress by now.

[HalGameGuru]

3 hours ago, raphidy said:

It's great innovation from Tesla, but if you want the mainstream market to adopt it, it should be cheap. Not everyone with average salary will buy this new roof tomorrow morning. The only thing I don't like about solar technology is that you have to store that huge battery somewhere near and depending on the use of it and the quality you should replace it between 5 to 10 years. It's just not affordable enough IMO.

I expect that part of the equation to eventually be taken over by capacitors. Unless some big breakthrough in energy density can be made

[Daniel644]

18 hours ago, BuckGup said:

How do they do with snow? I assume they don't work at all. How about ice? What is there load bearing limit? What wind speed are they rated for? 

try actually reading the page, they are a Class F wind rating which is like 110MPH so the same as any bonded shingles, probably not good for a hurricane zone.

18 hours ago, HalGameGuru said:

So the whole "they'll be cheaper than traditional roofing" fell by the wayside? 

the cheaper is the COST TO OWN, a typical shingle roof has a 15 to 30 year lifespan at which point you have to pay for another roof, this roof could essentially be the LAST roof you ever install on the house, the Solar shingles have a 30 year warranty on producing power and the solar and non-solar (as you don't actually make every shingle a solar one) have a LIFETIME OF THE STRUCTURE warranty, so you NEVER have to replace your roof again, so in theory even if the solar power producing aspect failed at the 30 year mark you still don't have to replace your roof (if you are OK with no longer producing your own power) and for those 30 years you where making your own power to the point that the NET COST of the ROOF MINUS THE 30 YEARS of electrical power savings from the roof comes out cheaper then a basic shingle roof.

[Tech_Dreamer]

Priced a bit too much imo , pricing is at $42/sq-ft .

[randomhkkid]

5 hours ago, huilun02 said:

It won't break even... 

Depends where you live, the suitability of your roof and the cost of electricity. No guarantee it will break even for everyone but that's not saying it won't for some.

[Remixt]

How much does a normal roofing job cost?

[RagnarokDel]

20 hours ago, raphidy said:

30 years for return after investment is kinda meh and you need to change your powerwall twice in those years. Only for people with money to burn.

That's a stupid statement. First of all if it costs 50k and it generates 64k in revenue during those 30 years, I'm pretty sure that means it broke even after 23 1/2 years. Second of all. A normal roof has a return on investment of ∞ as a normal roof never pays for itself. Making your point moot twice.

20 hours ago, Rattenmann said:

Also 30 years is for the US whre energy is almost free due to shitting on mother nature and clean air. Other countries will see their ROI as early as 5 years ;-)

Name me one place in the US where energy is cheaper then it is in Québec and we do it using renewable energy.

[HalGameGuru]

2 hours ago, Daniel644 said:

-snip-

yeah, not here. And that presupposes incredibly expensive traditional roofing. I hope for it to come down in price to be competitive with traditional roofing at time of purchase and WITHOUT government subsidization. You are talking about a return on investment over 30+ years. OR I could spend 12k or less on a traditional roof, that also has a decent warranty, and won't increase the cost of my homeowners insurance (I live in a hurricane zone) and use that 50+ thousand dollars elsewhere, to make money, or provide other goods and services I may need in the interim. That is an EXPENSIVE roof. And making the investment back over 30 years doesn't mean much if that huge a chunk of my resources could have been used elsewhere to generate a better return on investment or simply used to provide a better quality of life over those 30 years.

[Daniel644]

4 minutes ago, HalGameGuru said:

yeah, not here. And that presupposes incredibly expensive traditional roofing. I hope for it to come down in price to be competitive with traditional roofing at time of purchase and WITHOUT government subsidization. You are talking about a return on investment over 30+ years. OR I could spend 12k or less on a traditional roof, that also has a decent warranty, and won't increase the cost of my homeowners insurance (I live in a hurricane zone) and use that 50+ thousand dollars elsewhere, to make money, or provide other goods and services I may need in the interim. That is an EXPENSIVE roof. And making the investment back over 30 years doesn't mean much if that huge a chunk of my resources could have been used elsewhere to generate a better return on investment or simply used to provide a better quality of life over those 30 years.

well you'll be waiting a LONG LONG time, because just like with electric cars, the cost savings comes from the resources to operate saved, the math won't be worth it for everyone you have to look at your usage and run the numbers, which is why the tesla site has a calculator where you can input your house size and average monthly power bill and see what the cost is like, I know even regular solar panels aren't worth it for me because my power usage is around 400kwh a month (for the 2 people living in my house with an electric hot water heater) and the cost for a solar array is more then the next 30 years of 60-70 dollar a month power bills, if you are already very energy conservative (LED lighting, propane/natural gas appliances, turning lights off when not in the room, all that kind of stuff) then solar isn't really worth the investment, larger families in older houses are a better fit, the appealing aspect of this is the resale value you add to the house by never needing a new roof again and for the next 30 years having not to worry about power outages or electric bills.

[AnonymousGuy]

The pricing of these currently means you're not going to pay them off for well beyond 30 years.  You have to take into account the money lost by spending it on these tiles vs. investing it into the market.