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Solar Roof

tesla.com

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Re: Solar Roof

#51

Post by chii »

atourgates wrote: post #31
blakesterz wrote: post #2

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.

I don't really see the selling point, or value here. Tesla's calculator estimates $40,500 for a roof that generates half our power needs, and should provide $20,400 worth of energy over 30-years. Add in a PowerWall and federal tax credit, and I'm still losing $15,400 over 30-years. If I put that same $40,000 in an index fund that got the stock market's historical 7% average, and waited 30 years, I'd have $308,000. To…

> put that same $40,000 in an index fund that got the stock market's historical 7% average, and waited 30 years, I'd have $308,000.

stock market isn't a very safe investment (that is, risk is much higher than putting in a bank), you can't make a comparison against buying some equipment, which is zero risk. A closer comparison is putting the $40,000 in a bank that guarentees interest (or treasury bonds, which is also pretty much risk free like a bank) - you'd get $99,457, which is $59,457 over your initial investment.

Re: Solar Roof

#52

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

IvanK_net wrote: post #45

I have always been a huge fan of a quick transition to sustainable energy sources. There is just one little thing I don't understand. Why they expect people to make electricity at their homes? You can buy a little piece of land in a dessert, put solar panels there and distribute the electricity to other places. And you don't have to climb on any roof during the installation or the maintenance. It is not profitable to…

Many states have generous subsidies that only apply to residential/domestic energy production that don't apply to utility/commercial production, specifically there are credits and rebates for the construction cost, and the feed-in tariff system - these really shift the economics completely.

I live in western WA and I had a view to get a solar installation a couple of years ago, because despite our climate and sunshine conditions - and already having the greenest (hydroelectric and wind, mostly) and cheapest electricity in the country ($0.11/kWh) - there was a generous feed-in tariff - which meant my planned $40,000 investment in a solar system would pay itself off after 10-15 years, however in late 2015 the state decided to put an end to that and if I had the system built now it would take 25+ years to pay for itself, at which point the system's warranty would be expiring and I'd need to shell out more money to replace it.

Re: Solar Roof

#53

Post by jdashg »

palakchokshi wrote: post #47

2 self driving Teslas in the garage (making money when not used) $150,000 1 power wall battery pack $7,000 1 Solar Roof $80,000 Subtract $15,000 in Federal tax credits for both cars $5,000 in California tax credits for both cars 30% of 80,000 = $24,000 Solar Investment tax credit $237,000 - $44,000 Grand Total $193,000 Calculate savings $240 per month in gas $100-$300 per month in electricity $1000 - $2000 earned by…

CA tax credits are gone for those making over 150k.

Re: Solar Roof

#54

Post by jandrese »

IvanK_net wrote: post #45

I have always been a huge fan of a quick transition to sustainable energy sources. There is just one little thing I don't understand. Why they expect people to make electricity at their homes? You can buy a little piece of land in a dessert, put solar panels there and distribute the electricity to other places. And you don't have to climb on any roof during the installation or the maintenance. It is not profitable to…

You build a solar farm out in the desert it is up to you to maintain it and the supporting infrastructure (transmission lines).

Put a solar roof on a home and it is the homeowner's responsibility to maintain it.

Re: Solar Roof

#55

Post by pyoung »

tzs wrote: post #40
atourgates wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't really see the selling point, or value here. Tesla's calculator estimates $40,500 for a roof that generates half our power needs, and should provide $20,400 worth of energy over 30-years. Add in a PowerWall and federal tax credit, and I'm still losing $15,400 over 30-years. If I put that same $40,000 in an index fund that got the stock market's historical 7% average, and waited 30 years, I'd have $308,000. To…

> Tesla's calculator estimates $40,500 for a roof that generates half our power needs, and should provide $20,400 worth of energy over 30-years. This depends quite strongly on where you are. Your numbers are very close to the ones I get if I use my correct address, which is in the Puget Sound area of Washington State. If I keep everything the same except the address, changing that to one in Merced, California, then i…

They are using Google's Project Sunroof[1] to do the modeling. The tool uses satellite images of your roof to create the estimates, and accounts for orientation, shading from trees, etc...

[1] https://www.google.com/get/sunroof

Re: Solar Roof

#56

Post by geekagirl »

azeirah wrote: post #16
SirLJ wrote: 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?

I had my (very boxy and boring) 1800 sq ft house reroofed with 30 year asphalt shingles for ~$7k, including tearing off both previous layers of shingles.

I looked at getting a metal roof, and standing seam was going to cost about $16k.

Edited to add: The cost of living is cheap where I am.

Re: Solar Roof

#57

Post by themitchnz »

IvanK_net wrote: post #45

I have always been a huge fan of a quick transition to sustainable energy sources. There is just one little thing I don't understand. Why they expect people to make electricity at their homes? You can buy a little piece of land in a dessert, put solar panels there and distribute the electricity to other places. And you don't have to climb on any roof during the installation or the maintenance. It is not profitable to…

A local power company in my town does this (New Zealand) You buy a 'solar panel' and they add it to their solar farm while giving you the equivalent discount. The best thing is that if you move house the discount follows you.

Re: Solar Roof

#58

Post by nsxwolf »

loco5niner wrote: post #28
nsxwolf wrote: 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....

Yes, I was hoping he would come through when he said:

“Would you like a roof that looks better than a normal roof, lasts twice as long, costs less, and, by the way, generates electricity? It's like, why would you get anything else?”

I guess technically "generates electricity" is the part I got hung up on, it only needs to generate 1 milliwatt hour to be true. But much of the statement still isn't true - it's more expensive than a regular roof.

Re: Solar Roof

#59

Post by marcosdumay »

IvanK_net wrote: post #45

I have always been a huge fan of a quick transition to sustainable energy sources. There is just one little thing I don't understand. Why they expect people to make electricity at their homes? You can buy a little piece of land in a dessert, put solar panels there and distribute the electricity to other places. And you don't have to climb on any roof during the installation or the maintenance. It is not profitable to…

It's because local photovoltaics can save a lot of infrastructure and can require nearly no labor.

You don't buy cold air piped from across the city, you make it locally. Why?

Re: Solar Roof

#60

Post by myroon5 »

I'm surprised they didn't team up more with Google's Project Sunroof or Zillow or create their own version of those projects, so that you could just put in your home address and get all the relevant details. Had to check Zillow to find out my own square footage.
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