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Elon Musk: Tesla's Solar Roof Will Cost Less Than a Traditional Roof (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the just-pay-shipping-and-handling dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: After Tesla shareholders approved the acquisition of SolarCity, the new company is now an unequivocal sun-to-vehicle energy firm. And Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk didn't take long to make his first big announcement as head of this new enterprise. Minutes after shareholders approved the deal -- about 85 percent of them voted yes -- Musk told the crowd that he had just returned from a meeting with his new solar engineering team. Tesla's new solar roof product, he proclaimed, will actually cost less to manufacture and install than a traditional roof -- even before savings from the power bill. "Electricity," Musk said, "is just a bonus." If Musk's claims prove true, this could be a real turning point in the evolution of solar power. The rooftop shingles he unveiled just a few weeks ago are something to behold: They're made of textured glass and are virtually indistinguishable from high-end roofing products. They also transform light into power for your home and your electric car. "So the basic proposition will be: Would you like a roof that looks better than a normal roof, lasts twice as long, costs less and -- by the way -- generates electricity?" Musk said. "Why would you get anything else?" Much of the cost savings Musk is anticipating comes from shipping the materials. Traditional roofing materials are brittle, heavy, and bulky. Shipping costs are high, as is the quantity lost to breakage. The new tempered-glass roof tiles, engineered in Tesla's new automotive and solar glass division, weigh as little as a fifth of current products and are considerably easier to ship, Musk said.

15 of 428 comments (clear)

  1. I'll wait for a third party review... by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Musk is correct then... Great! Sign me up!

    I think I'll wait for a variety of third party reviews before I get too eager though. Of course Musk is going to cheer his own product, but lets see if experts agree with him and if the price really is lower when it really hits the market.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    1. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Agreed, I still want to find out how this product works in places like Warren Ohio, Joplin, Missouri, Greensburg Kanasas (Most Damaging Tornadoes I can think of off the top of my head) Where tornadoes while not "common" also aren't "rare" and as such roofs need to be able to sustain pre-tornado weather (including hail) at least a few times a year. (to be reliable)

      That doesn't even include Cold Weather testing (which those 3 above also face to varying degrees), extreme summer heat, and snow dead weight (weight of snow/ice on roof) capacities, etc....

      and that isn't even including any PV testing... like... Ohh how about a minor heating element that can be turned on in the winter to help de-ice/snow roofs... so as to be able to go back to collecting solar (because "normally"(ignoring temps going up) you can get a lot of snow quickly and then days and days of 'sunny but still cold' where roofs are still snow covered. So... a heating element like this would use battery/etc. power for a short time, but then allow PV collection again... ohh and.... yeah... the list goes on...)

      Also... I would want to know if I can buy it in small quantities to put it on small sheds, etc... where a LED light and maybe more would be great add ons... because the "issue" with solar roof that I've been told is that you can't just buy the panels from them... you have to get EVERYTHING including installation from them... and a lot of people HAVE to do the lease option... (b/c they (IMHO) buy grid-tie in systems which makes them susceptible to lower power company regulations...) (I'd be glad to know if I'm wrong on any of Solar City's practices...but still the same issues apply)

    2. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Agreed, I still want to find out how this product works in places like Warren Ohio, Joplin, Missouri, Greensburg Kanasas (Most Damaging Tornadoes I can think of off the top of my head) Where tornadoes while not "common" also aren't "rare" and as such roofs need to be able to sustain pre-tornado weather (including hail) at least a few times a year.

      Traditional shingles set a very very low bar.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... by troon · · Score: 4, Informative

      "Ohh how about a minor heating element that can be turned on in the winter to help de-ice/snow roofs"

      It has this.

      --
      Ydco co ,df C erb-y go. a Ekrpat t.fxrapev
    4. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... by MachineShedFred · · Score: 5, Informative

      They've shown video of dropping calibrated weights on 3 other roofing materials as well as this new product, and the other 3 failed (read: shattered) where this solar shingle thing did not. They claim it is almost as strong as steel.

      There is a version that has electric resistive warmers in it for melting snow - remember that SolarCity installs panels in New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania, which are no strangers to snow.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    5. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... by ranton · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Your comment alludes to a more fundamental question of whether home owners could install these shingles themselves. While I would certainly rather pay someone to install a new roof, in the rural area I grew up in that was very rare. Even if you didn't have the skills you had a neighbor who could help. Very few people would "waste their money" paying someone else to do their home maintenance.

      For people more willing to spend their time than money (or who only have excess time not money) the ability to install it yourself is a huge part of the cost function.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    6. Re:I'll wait for a third party review... by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Not going to be that cheap, having a solar cell built in.

      Musk is comparing his roofing to ceramic tile. Not steal shingles, much less asphalt composite shingles (the last is fair, they have shit durability).

      Roofs like ceramic tile and slate (in 2016) are architectural elements, not a type that is chosen economically. This will start in botique construction, I bet you see it on northern exposures at high latitudes (where the solar cells are useless).

      I'm actually curious to see how they do the interconnect. If you need an electrician soldering each tile to a bus, it's a non-starter. I'm sure it's not that fucked up, but if you just have them 'autoattach' when nailed down you could get welding voltages/amperages on the roof while installing. How do they do edges, valleys and ridges (always the tricky parts of roofing). Also curious if he has lower cost inactive but matching tiles for northern exposures.

      Tweaker roofers will just do these jobs at night and continue not sleeping. They will also invent insane contraptions with these, welders, solar vapourizers etc.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  2. California by Orgasmatron · · Score: 4, Informative

    I keep forgetting that there are places in the world that aren't California. Out there, "traditional roofing materials" are asphalt shingles, or sometimes cedar shakes, neither of which is bulky or brittle.

    --
    See that "Preview" button?
    1. Re:California by jabuzz · · Score: 4, Funny

      So twice as long as slate or terracotta? Heck those solar tiles must be going to last hundreds if not thousands of years. Or is this twice as long as whatever junk is used in the USA which seems to be a lot of asphalt tiles, something which would only be deemed fit for a shed or garage in Europe.

    2. Re:California by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      We do NOT build our houses with cheap plywood, sir.

      We build our houses with EXPENSIVE plywood.

  3. Re:And fart unicorns while saving cancer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Calm down there Mr. Free Bitcoin. If you think Musk "got lucky" by investing in PayPal, "got lucky" again when starting Tesla at just the right time, "got lucky" again by pushing the private space sector again at just the right time, and "got lucky" by building in Solar City to vertically integrate two of his biggest (and most environmentally impactful) industries, then I suppose he is just an insanely lucky man. Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, though, one might call him a visionary. Yes, having the right people is critical. Steve Jobs was neither a hardware nor software engineer, he was a visionary.

  4. Re:Color Me Skeptical by Rei · · Score: 4, Interesting

    They have some impressive impact test videos. Tempered glass is amazingly tough. Now, if you manage to break it, it breaks in its entirity (aka, an entire shingle), usually into little bits. But that break takes a pretty severe impact.

    Time will tell what the total cost is in the real world, of course. My questions are more concerning how fast real-world installs go, aka what the labour costs are like.

    --
    Wingus, Dingus! Listen up!
  5. Similar looking non-photovoltaic shingles? by Manhigh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This seems like a no-brainer, but it also seems silly to put these on north-facing or shaded roofs. It would be nice if there were cheaper, non-PV versions to cover the portions of my roof that aren't going to generate appreciable power. A consistent appearance in the roof, but only pay for the PV where it makes sense.

    I guess maybe having two different versions would potentially make both more expensive.

    --
    "Open the pod by doors, Hal" > "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" sudo "Open the pod bay doors, Hal" > alright
    1. Re:Similar looking non-photovoltaic shingles? by haruchai · · Score: 5, Informative

      " It would be nice if there were cheaper, non-PV versions to cover the portions of my roof that aren't going to generate appreciable power"
      Elon said that's exactly what they'll do. Not all the panels will have cells, if not needed

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  6. Horizontal glass by sjbe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Uhhhh, how much glass is used for horizontal (or horizontal-ish) surfaces?

    Quite a lot. Open up your refrigerator and chances are you'll see a rather large load bearing glass surface. Look at atriums of commercial buildings with glass roofs. Look at greenhouses. Glass table tops. Check out the sunroofs in cars. There are glass walkways.

    Horizontal glass surfaces are all over the place if you actually bother to look for them.