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

electrek.co

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

#151

Post by ejoso »

Neywiny wrote: post #149
ericpauley wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are these payback periods factoring in opportunity cost? If not the game is already lost. If so periods that long are so sensitive to alternate asset returns that they could easily be infinity.

Opportunity cost meaning investing with standard rule of thumb returns? I think usually it's just total cost at installation divided by the product of power generation and energy cost. So that's $ / (W x $/Wh), which should reduce down to just hours that can be trivially converted to years

Cost of alternative investments not pursued as a result of deployed capital.

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

#152

Post by batiudrami »

Marsymars wrote: post #133
t1234s wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regular solar panels work well but are an eyesore on a nice home.

A subjective eyesore shouldn't stop them from getting installed if they're functional. I tend to think garages are an eyesore, and yet, basically everyone (including me) wants one included with their home.

Similarly the real eyesore in neighbourhoods is all the cars and the assorted infrastructure dedicated to them.

40% of Australian households have rooftop solar. You get used to the look very quickly, and well-installed ones look perfectly fine.

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

#153

Post by hello8402 »

ejoso wrote: post #151
Neywiny wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Opportunity cost meaning investing with standard rule of thumb returns? I think usually it's just total cost at installation divided by the product of power generation and energy cost. So that's $ / (W x $/Wh), which should reduce down to just hours that can be trivially converted to years

Cost of alternative investments not pursued as a result of deployed capital.

> Cost of alternative investments not pursued as a result of deployed capital.

Once you’re achieving 30-50% annual returns over 20-30 year horizons (PE, HFT, invite-only HF) , you stop caring about cost of capital for anything less than US$1 million.

But 10% VTI / VOO, sure, factor that 10% into your excel.

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

#154

Post by anthomtb »

t1234s wrote: post #113
t1234s wrote: post #112

Shame.. I've seen one of these in person on a high-end home and its a very nice looking product. I assume the lifespan would be similar to a metal roof.

Regular solar panels work well but are an eyesore on a nice home.

Eyesore? Maybe on well architected multimillion dollar custom homes.

On the average suburban tract home in my corner of the USA, panels are no more ugly than the shingled roofs they sit atop.

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

#155

Post by infinitewars »

corpoposter wrote: post #121
infinitewars wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reporting on Elektrek is top notch. They care deeply about real sustainable energy and transportation and are willing to dig deep past the marketing and plainly report the facts. I can't count the number of times they've had exclusive scoops or found insightful angles nobody else was concerning.

This may be true, but from an editorial perspective they are openly and aggressively anti-Tesla. I think it's worth noting as this article is Tesla related.

While most every other articles on Tesla (historically) had been fawning megafans.

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

#156

Post by toast0 »

xnx wrote: post #74

Aside from power-independence, does solar on residential roofs ever make sense? For all the complexity of doing a few houses, you could do an entire parking lot (or empty land) and power the whole neighborhood.

I've got a consultant coming over on tuesday to take measurements and give a more solid quote for installation.

We'll see. But I have an outbuilding with a large two plane roof and the south facing plane has no penetrations and is pretty much unshaded. Our utility rates have pretty much doubled over the last three years, and there's another ~30% increase scheduled over the next three years. Said roof is coming up on the end of its expected life, so it may be a good time to put on a new roof and put on solar at the same time.

Could someone get better ROI doing a larger solar project somewhere else? Probably. But if it maths for me, I'm going to do the project on my roof, because I don't have anywhere else to do it (well I could do a ground install, but I'd lose aesthetically)

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

#157

Post by econ »

c6400sc wrote: post #146
newsclues wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EVs have speakers for safety, not sonic beauty.

Have you heard of Fratzonic? If you haven't, you can't unhear it. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/08/heres-what-the-electric...

I use to have a neighbor with a car that made all nearby buildings shake, 5am every morning, idling for 3-4 minutes. It always made me laugh but it never struck me as beautiful.

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

#158

Post by loeg »

ericpauley wrote: post #127
freetime2 wrote: post #115

> The economics never worked either. An average Tesla Solar Roof costs approximately $106,000 before incentives, compared to roughly $60,000 for a traditional roof replacement plus conventional solar panels — a $46,000 premium. The payback period stretches to 15-25 years, compared to 7-12 years for traditional panels. Yikes that’s a lot of money. For most people buying solar, I think payback period is probably the bi…

Are these payback periods factoring in opportunity cost? If not the game is already lost. If so periods that long are so sensitive to alternate asset returns that they could easily be infinity.

Usually, no.

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

#159

Post by freetime2 »

ericpauley wrote: post #127
freetime2 wrote: post #115

> The economics never worked either. An average Tesla Solar Roof costs approximately $106,000 before incentives, compared to roughly $60,000 for a traditional roof replacement plus conventional solar panels — a $46,000 premium. The payback period stretches to 15-25 years, compared to 7-12 years for traditional panels. Yikes that’s a lot of money. For most people buying solar, I think payback period is probably the bi…

Are these payback periods factoring in opportunity cost? If not the game is already lost. If so periods that long are so sensitive to alternate asset returns that they could easily be infinity.

No - these numbers likely do not factor in opportunity cost. And yes, you can probably earn a better return elsewhere. But the reasons that I installed rooftop solar were:

* Diversification. These days stocks, bonds, real estate, crypto, and even precious metals are increasingly correlated [1]. Solar panels offer pretty consistent returns regardless of what is happening in the stock market.

* Backup power. I live in an area that is prone to natural disasters. Having a backup power source gives me a bit of peace of mind.

* Hedge against increasing energy prices. My solar panels have actually performed better than I expected due to electricity prices increasing faster than I expected.

* Clean energy. When I turn on my A/C in the summer I take some enjoyment from the fact that it's powered by the panels on my roof and not burning fossil fuels.

* Entertainment. I enjoy nerding out and learning about the tech, monitoring output, etc. A lot of people think solar panels are ugly but I actually like the way they look.

Yes the S&P 500 would have returned signficantly more than my solar panels. But I already have a lot invested in the S&P 500, solar panels were fairly inexpensive and don't make up a significant portion of my overall investments, and the psychological benefits outweigh whatever opportunity cost I have incurred.

There is also the option to finance them. You need to be careful with financing, as I think there are a lot of predatory offers out there. But if you are buying or building a house, for example, and can roll the cost of the panels into your mortgage, then that's going to reduce the up front cost and hence the opportunity cost.

But yeah when you get into the $100K range for a Tesla solar roof, then I think that starts to be a pretty substantial amount for most people that can be better spent elsewhere. Not to mention the delays, customer service issues, etc that people have experienced with Tesla - which can easily offset any peace of mind benefits.

[1] https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/04/14/h...

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

#160

Post by themafia »

t1234s wrote: post #112

Shame.. I've seen one of these in person on a high-end home and its a very nice looking product. I assume the lifespan would be similar to a metal roof.

> high-end home and its a very nice looking product

That might just be another way of saying "niche."

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