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

Post by 21asdffdsa12 » Mon, May 18, 2026, 6:52 AM UTC

freetime2 wrote: post #171

kccqzy wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my opinion, the Tesla Solar Roof really appealed to people who wanted good looks. They probably already have their “forever” homes and are not thinking of moving at all. It is more about the emotional attachment to this part of your home than its functional aspects. You can buy a $100 dining table from IKEA or you can buy a $1,000 dining table from Pottery Barn or you can buy a custom $5,000 dining table made from…

Yeah and I think that's fine - and as I mentioned below my own reasons for installing solar panels were not just financially motivated. But the economics are also hugely important. Most people don't buy $5,000 tables, and most people don't buy Tesla Solar Roofs - the article says they sold 3,000 total in the last decade. And I don't think Tesla wants to be in the bespoke roof business - they want to be selling to the…

Post by jonhohle » Mon, May 18, 2026, 7:05 AM UTC

bruce511 wrote: post #179

freetime2 wrote: post #159

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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…

I'm in the same camp as you. I'll add that my panels are returning 16% on capital spent, and it's going up as electricity prices go up. So, yes, I could probably get a higher return if I invested that capital elsewhere, but, apart from the diversification, I get benefits beyond the raw financial return. Firstly, earlier this year, we had a cable coming into the house fail. By the time the electrician and city had don…

Post by formerly_proven » Mon, May 18, 2026, 7:25 AM UTC

decimalenough wrote: post #221

vishnugupta wrote: post #201

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> $106,000 before incentives, What's the capacity though. Either way this seems extremely high unless we are talking in terms of like 100kw or something. For reference, I recently installed hybrid/net-metered system set up at my home in India; 7kw solar with a 20kWh battery for around $10K. The biggest cost is for the batteries though. The panels themselves have become extremely low price and the prices continue to f…

It's not just solar panels, it's a roof replacement and solar panels. In high COL areas, the roof alone would likely cost you $10k+ these days.

Post by creshal » Mon, May 18, 2026, 7:31 AM UTC

mbreese wrote: post #191

freetime2 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah and I think that's fine - and as I mentioned below my own reasons for installing solar panels were not just financially motivated. But the economics are also hugely important. Most people don't buy $5,000 tables, and most people don't buy Tesla Solar Roofs - the article says they sold 3,000 total in the last decade. And I don't think Tesla wants to be in the bespoke roof business - they want to be selling to the…

> the article says they sold 3,000 total in the last decade. >It also doesn't help that they seemingly had issues scaling up I think these two things were highly related. Same with the cost. They couldn’t figure out how to scale up, which kept prices high and volume low. Because of this, it really was a bespoke business. And while, it looks nice, that type of margin just is not going to provide the returns they promi…

Post by somenameforme » Mon, May 18, 2026, 7:42 AM UTC

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…