Anyone putting a deposit down for Tesla's solar roof?

Tesla's solar roof would cost over 100K for 50% coverage on my house where as traditional solar roof would cost about 35K for 10kw system. I'll wait til it's competitive then look again.

 

It may never be competitive versus solar panels by itself. If you go in with those expectations, then you'll be waiting awhile. If you need to put in a new roof anyway, then Tesla's solar roof starts to be a possibility.

 

Wow...quite a bit more expensive than I thought it would be (vs solar panels). I'm far too cheap to be an early adopter on this.

However, I gotta give Tesla a thumbs up for getting the ball rolling. Hopefully the price will plummet at some point.

 

Climate is also a factor. PV becomes less efficient when it heats up.

The most conservative estimate I've seen for a slate roof is 25 years with softer stone. Harder, high quality slate can last 400 years, and some older buildings still have their original roof.

 

My current Double Roman tile roof is 13 years old. It still looks new with no leaks and not a single piece of broken tile. The total roof surface is just under 3200 sq ft including garage. For the price of a Tesla roof with 50% coverage, I can get a new roof, 12KW solar roof and a base Model 3 and still have left over to take a phat vacation.

 

like any new tech, it's gonna start high and come down. hopefully, people with more cash than care will get the ball rolling, like they did with tesla cars.

 

I wouldn't necessarily call this 'new tech'. Dow chemical used to have a solar shingle business but shut it down due to lack of customers ( I suspect cost may have been involved too ). Or is the solar tech in Tesla's variety more efficient? As I understand it, the 'tech' part mostly has to do with packaging to make them more visually appealing.

 

so you can't see a reason for the high price?

 

Smart phones existed before the iPhone. I heard of PV shingles long enough ago that I forgot that work was being done on them(pre-2000, I think). PV has come down in price, but PV shingles will still have a higher price because an installation will be dozens to possibly even hundreds of small, individual PV panels, with the attending hook ups, versus the handful of panels with traditional PV.

So the technology isn't new, but the advances since inception, and Tesla/Musk's clout might bring them to the masses as Apple/Jobs did for smart phones.

 

5 letters T-E-S-L-A

 

Can't discount the possibility, but if PV shingles were more economical, the other companies that have worked on them before now would have been more successful.

 

I shan't be holding my breath any time soon!

Sounds a bit like 5 letters A-P-P-L-E

Same top notch prices!

 

and quality, i hope.

 

Hope... and change? I kept waiting for Obama to quit campaigning and start working!

 

Tesla actually builds much of their stuff in the US.