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Solar Roof

tesla.com

21–30 of 455 posts

Re: Solar Roof

#21
post #9

Yikes. I just signed a contract for a new roof here last month, it's going to cost about $12k. Just did the estimate for the Tesla Solar roof... $80,300, so $87k if I want the battery too. I can barely afford the $12 right now, the $80 is just so far over it's not even close, even with how much I save over the years in electricity. That being said, I love these things, so hoping it gets cheaper in the coming years.

You got a $12K quote for tile? How long is the warranty? Remember that the 80K quote includes solar, so you'd have to add a standard solar install of the same KW capacity to your initial quote to really compare apples to apples. You'll probably still pay a premium to go with Tesla, but the no-profile solar integration and lifetime warranty really look attractive. Some people are probably willing to pay for it, simila…

It's totally fair to just balk at the price.

Someone that doesn't install solar can sell the home without worrying about recovering that cost.

Re: Solar Roof

#22
post #11

Yikes. I just signed a contract for a new roof here last month, it's going to cost about $12k. Just did the estimate for the Tesla Solar roof... $80,300, so $87k if I want the battery too. I can barely afford the $12 right now, the $80 is just so far over it's not even close, even with how much I save over the years in electricity. That being said, I love these things, so hoping it gets cheaper in the coming years.

Huh, I don't know much about roof costs, but which bar was incorrect in their price chart for you: the asphalt or the solar tiles? From their chart, the solar tiles (installed) should only be about twice as much as asphalt.

That's a very misleading chart.

(1) The solar tiles aren't actually on the chart. If they were, they'd have to extend the scale more than twice as wide as what's shown, out to past $40 per square foot based on their calculator.

(2) The bar that is on the chart is for their "non-solar" tiles, plain glass squares. That's the one that's twice as long as the bar for asphalt tiles.

The solar glass tiles are actually more like 10x the cost of asphalt shingles, including installation.

Re: Solar Roof

#24
post #16
post #8

Tesla acquired SolarCity in November in a deal worth $2.1 billion. At the event, Musk said Tesla's roof would price competitively with normal roofs and could even cost less. "It's looking quite promising that a solar roof will actually cost less than a normal roof before you even take the value of electricity into account," Musk said at the event. "So the basic proposition would be: Would you like a roof that looks b…

I'm 21, thus I have no idea what roofs normally cost. I assume they're very very heavily below ~80k? For a "regular" house, what would a roof cost? 4k? 10k? 500?

We just got an estimate for our house (~2400 sq ft single story home) and the estimates were from 10k - 13k.

Re: Solar Roof

#25
Oh wow. So that's disappointing. I was under the impression it was about the same cost as a new roof. I guess its starting at that cost, if you want just a tiny little bit of electricity.

Re: Solar Roof

#27
post #8

Tesla acquired SolarCity in November in a deal worth $2.1 billion. At the event, Musk said Tesla's roof would price competitively with normal roofs and could even cost less. "It's looking quite promising that a solar roof will actually cost less than a normal roof before you even take the value of electricity into account," Musk said at the event. "So the basic proposition would be: Would you like a roof that looks b…

Most of these things require high production amounts which allow refinement and bulk orders. The first Tesla Roadster's ended up being around $110K. They're now doing Model 3's for $35K. I expect the same with the roofs -- they will drop price drastically, but they need to get them out there first.

They haven't delivered a Model 3 yet.

Re: Solar Roof

#28
post #25

Oh wow. So that's disappointing. I was under the impression it was about the same cost as a new roof. I guess its starting at that cost, if you want just a tiny little bit of electricity.

To be fair, that is a pretty unlikely assumption.

edit - just found out Musk pretty much said that. Still....

Re: Solar Roof

#29

Yikes. I just signed a contract for a new roof here last month, it's going to cost about $12k. Just did the estimate for the Tesla Solar roof... $80,300, so $87k if I want the battery too. I can barely afford the $12 right now, the $80 is just so far over it's not even close, even with how much I save over the years in electricity. That being said, I love these things, so hoping it gets cheaper in the coming years.

While doing the calculations I read "Cost of Powerball ticket" instead of "Cost of Powerwall battery"... laughed loud as it would be useful to help pay it off.

Re: Solar Roof

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of these things require high production amounts which allow refinement and bulk orders. The first Tesla Roadster's ended up being around $110K. They're now doing Model 3's for $35K. I expect the same with the roofs -- they will drop price drastically, but they need to get them out there first.

They haven't delivered a Model 3 yet.

That's not the point. Sales from their previous, more expensive models allowed them to ramp up production capacity for the Model 3.
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