When they rolled out the product with tiny tiles I always thought musk was being to ambitious. The smaller the tiles the harder a solar roof gets.
Why are tiles small BTW? Could we use tiles as big as normal solar panels?
Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
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Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#52Did 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.
I did consider but there are 2 issues. 1. Efficiency. Not all roof parts can be exposed to sun. You overpay 2. You need to time it with roof change
Home insurance also (ie replacement cost after damaging weather event).
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#53Sad. A great idea ruined by poor business practices.
It was a bad idea from the beginning, technically and economically it sucked, the only possible utility was areas with strict heritage constraints which forbade normal rooftop PV.
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#54I’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…
> They thought it would work
That's the problem though. Thinking your product will get by on looks when it's clearly outcompeted on performance, price, availability and longevity. That's not just optimism, it's delusion.
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#55I’m pretty sure solar roof was introduced as a way to pump stock when Tesla was doing poor financially
Enron Musk.
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> They thought it would work That's the problem though. Thinking your product will get by on looks when it's clearly outcompeted on performance, price, availability and longevity. That's not just optimism, it's delusion.
Pretty sure this didn’t help either though:
> Customer service complaints are pervasive and consistent. Tesla Energy has a 2.6 out of 5 rating on SolarReviews
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#57Surely there’s a middle ground where a roof is made of something big and panel-sized, rather than a conventional roof with panels as another layer on top?
THere is a middle ground which is this: https://www.wienerberger.co.uk/products/roof/in-roof-solar.h... The big problem is that because there is no real ventilation, the panels get hotter and don't produce as much power. What you put under them also has an effect on how waterproof your roof is long term, plus when you need to replace them finding ones that are the right size are also a pain.
There’re commonly used on new build houses in the UK — new roofs in the UK have a waterproof but breathable membrane under the tiles
Also see https://roofit.solar/ used in a few houses… mainly self build a or architect designed
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#58I hope somebody figures out at some point how to do roofing with large integrated panels that could be solar.
This Estonian companies does that https://roofit.solar/
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#59Surely there’s a middle ground where a roof is made of something big and panel-sized, rather than a conventional roof with panels as another layer on top?
This is the roof of an industrial building near here which seems to go with that idea:
https://nabendynamo.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210426_1...
While not quite panel-sized, it's much larger tiles and there's not another roof underneath. Probably makes most sense with a new roof, though. The problem is that when a roof lasts 50--80 years, that's not a very big market just for new roofs.
Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels
#60I’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…
But fraud was involved.
Financially it was part of SolarCity bailout (Musk's cousin). It heavily heavily penalized Tesla shareholders and smelled of a family bailout. Solar Roof was announced so hastily in October 2016 justify the merger and stave off massive shareholder lawsuits. There was little effort in the roof development after bailout was a success, minus the bait-and-switch lawsuits.
There was genuine concept level development at some point, but it was developed into product after they knew it did not work to keep lawyers happy.