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Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

electrek.co

101–110 of 363 posts

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#101
post #46

I’m pretty sure solar roof was introduced as a way to pump stock when Tesla was doing poor financially

I'm no Musk fanboy but I think this kind of maximally cynical take is tiresome. They thought it would work, they expended significant engineering effort and money making it real and producing it and selling it to customers. The simplest explanation is that they did all that and the market didn't want it. The economics of traditional panels outweighed the aesthetic advantages of tiles and they're pivoting. No conspira…

I'm tired of his cousins

https://news.ycombinator.com/reply?id=48166411&goto=item%3Fi...

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#102
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course the market wanted it. I wanted it. My friends wanted it. But we couldn’t buy it because it was vapourware ! From this to self-driving cars in 2 years to tunnels that will change public transport… maybe Musk should prototype and see what’s actually possible before telling the market. I mean come on - it’s borderline fraud in order to pump stocks - there’s got to be stockholders that are forming class actions…

Both self driving craze and car tunnel madness is only possible at all because how car centric US mindset is. If you even try to suggest that people could instead use good public transport and pedestrian infrastructure they would look at you like you are some sort of crazy. Musk just takes car centric society pipe dreams and sell it back to them. Like OMG you transiting to work and can safely stay in your phone 99% o…

I’ve traveled to a decent number of countries and the only city I’ve been to that wasn’t filled with cars was Venice. I love public transport and I wish the US would do it better, but cars are extremely common all over the place and self-driving is something that would get a lot of traction in lots of countries.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#103
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think he is on payroll, but he was promised Tesla Roadster, when it did not materialize he went on a vengeful crusade. I don't blame the guy, I would do the same.

Is that legit?

Yeah, he was a big Tesla shill, after he got scammed from the Roadster, he did 180 and started pointing everything wrong with Tesla

https://www.thedrive.com/news/24025/electreks-editor-in-chie...

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#104
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly they make economic sense or people wouldn't buy them.

I wish that were true, but I suspect more people are doing it to be trendy/appear "green" than basing it on a system lifetime ROI calculation vs. alternatives.

People are rarely willing to spend five figures on something just to be trendy or green.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#105
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly they make economic sense or people wouldn't buy them.

I wish that were true, but I suspect more people are doing it to be trendy/appear "green" than basing it on a system lifetime ROI calculation vs. alternatives.

You should take this as a data point where your gut intuition has failed you.

It is really condescending to dismiss their choice as motivated by vanity rather than assuming that other people might have done their homework and made a rational decision. It might very well be that you have done your own homework and it doesn't make sense for your situation, but other people face different tradeoffs which make it worthwhile.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#107

Did any other manufacturers build their own version? It seems like the right long term idea but the lack of other players seems to indicate there's some underlying issue that isn't solved yet.

Its not the right long term solution tho, tiny roof tiles as solar panels have so many problems:

- Magnitude higher number of interconnections which impacts reliability and efficiency

- Uniform roof tile style

- Requires entire roof rebuild which is always more expensive than retrofit of panels on top

- Complex installation resulting in less installers available overall for the market

- Crossing of trades between roofing & electrical

A slightly better solution would have been to make the big traditional solar panels your actual roof panels but really retrofitting them on top of panels solves most of those issues above.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#108
post #27
post #4

Yep. Fred Lambert, the usual suspect.

He is very critical of Elon Musk, but I never caught him writing something false.

I caught him a few times not writing significant details that go against his narrative.

"FSD disengages just before the collision." The other video angle shows that the driver presses the brake, which disengages FSD. "Tesla consistently hides information from the court." There are two different cases separated by years. The police got all the information they needed in the first case. "FSD is 10x worse than the average driver." The uncertainty of the number due to insufficient statistics makes the comparison moot.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#109
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Invisible solar is a genuine use case in areas with shitty power tripping HOAs, but even regular solar takes a decade to break even, so if you sell something like that at inflated Tesla level prices then they simply never will and there is no reason to buy them in the first place.

My solar install took about 4.5 years to break even, which I understand is maybe a bit below average for where I live (Ireland).

Although isn't there an Irish government grant to help cover the cost of the panel + installation? That would make comparing break even times across countries quite difficult.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#110

I’m pretty sure solar roof was introduced as a way to pump stock when Tesla was doing poor financially

Didn't they "bail out" solar roof when tesla started making money?

Or more specifically, didn't Tesla bail out Elon's cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive?
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