Tesla Solar Roof Tiles

Has anyone looked into these Tesla solar roof tiles or made a deposit?:
https://www.tesla.com/solarroof

They seem pretty cool and look amazing.  Fortunately the Vermont slate in the front of our house is still in great shape after 90 years, but the Pennsylvania slate in the back is starting to disintegrate.  It's great that there are options like this on the way!  These seem way more attractive than traditional solar installations of panels on asphalt shingle and last much longer (the roof if not the generating capacity).  I wonder when these will become available in our area and if any local roofers plan on getting involved.

So far no one has been able to test them for output.  I suspect that they will be far less efficient than regular panels, and will result in a much higher cost per watt.  Plus, a large proportion of any roof will have to be their non solar complementary tiles, which will also be expensive.  I'm happy to see them in the market, but so far it is so much vaporware.

They tout a 30-year life for the tiles, which is comparable to traditional shingles.  But typical lifespan of a slate roof is much longer (like 3 times longer) so the comparison will be different in that regard also.

Right, and you can get an asphalt architectural shingle with a 30 year warranty, so that's the low cost equivalent.

Wish Tesla would just make a $20,000 electric car. These thin film type photovoltaics are always less efficient and the roof tiles more expensive. They look good, but very few people will spend the money. In general, don't lease a solar system, buy it!

Not exactly.  The warranty on the tiles is "Infinity, or the lifetime of your house, whichever comes first."  30 years is the warranty for the electric generation.  So, according to the marketing and warranty, they do last as long slate.  

I agree it's vaporware in the sense that it hasn't proven itself yet in the field, but this is a technology i want to root for from both green and aesthetic perspectives.  

sac said:

They tout a 30-year life for the tiles, which is comparable to traditional shingles.  But typical lifespan of a slate roof is much longer (like 3 times longer) so the comparison will be different in that regard also.

FilmCarp said:

Right, and you can get an asphalt architectural shingle with a 30 year warranty, so that's the low cost equivalent.

Right now the market for these is really just with the people that get a kick out of trying something techie and new. It was 4 years between the Roadster seeing production and the Model S. 9 years to get to the Model 3 (which isn't even actually out yet, but is in production).

We definitely need to see how this susses out in the real world - both on cost and aesthetics. While the tiles look 'better' than traditional solar panels - I'm not entirely sure that what I've seen looks good. There's a sort of fakeness to them. I need to see them in the real world looking good to be sold on it.

I agree to an extent.  I have solar and an electric car(nissan leaf), and I welcome innovation.  What bothers me about Tesla is the relentless hype before there actually is a product.  How much carbon would have been offset if the folks who have been waiting for three years for these tiles had just put panels on their roof?  The Leaf, which I admit is now dated, has been sold since 2011, but people think Tesla is the leader in electric cars.  In the end, though, I like the progress the industry is making.

I wouldn't buy the 1st generation of the tiles.  Wait until 2.0.

Well, there's a big difference between a Tesla Model S and a Nissan Leaf. A Nissan Leaf takes 10.4 seconds to reach 60 mph. A base Tesla Model S clocks in at 5.9 seconds. That's a pretty big difference in power. People think of electric cars as being under powered and slow, since the Tesla isn't that's why it has all of the hype.

(For reference, my Mini Countryman S which is zippy enough, but nothing crazy is rated at 6.8 in 0-60. Fast enough that there's never any problem with being slow when merging on the turnpike or parkway.)

FilmCarp said:

I agree to an extent.  I have solar and an electric car(nissan leaf), and I welcome innovation.  What bothers me about Tesla is the relentless hype before there actually is a product.  How much carbon would have been offset if the folks who have been waiting for three years for these tiles had just put panels on their roof?  The Leaf, which I admit is now dated, has been sold since 2011, but people think Tesla is the leader in electric cars.  In the end, though, I like the progress the industry is making.

Well, how about apples to apples?  The model S base price is 68,000, and the leaf base price is about 25,000.  Are we talking about cars for everyone or cars for the elite?  The Leaf has all the torque benefits of an electric motor.  It flies off of the line.  It meets my commuting and town needs and  is almost free to maintain.  I don't buy cars for style points, and i admit that there are some things Nissan could improve.

In the pictures at least they look better to me than asphalt shingles (the most common roofing materials). 

In many ways Tesla is like Apple. It has not invented anything, but has been able to put things together in a more appealing package than anyone else. 

But as good as the original Macs were, Apple came close to folding. So it is not certain that Tesla will ultimately prevail.

Tesla is pulling a bait and switch by advertising a base price of $35,000 for the Model 3.  The base model version won't go into production for several months.  The first production runs will be for the long-range model which will cost $44,000 plus other add-ons.  Most buyers will pay well beyond the $35,000 price tag when all is said and done.

Tesla is an electric car company for the wealthy, not the mainstream.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/07/29/4-first-thoughts-on-teslas-game-changing-model-3.aspx

Tesla's tiles are nothing new. Defunct Unisolar made flexible tiles and laminates for metal roofs 15 years ago. They went out of business. Another company made hard shingles and also went out of business. Problem with all these is that they have to use some form of thin film which is half the efficiency of mono crystalline or polycrystalline solar panels. Therefore, one needs twice the space to get the same amount of electricity. If they would produce a safer Lithium Iron (LiFepo) battery at half the present cost, that would be a big deal. 

Musk is putting together a three part solution to non-renewable transportation.  

The triad of electric cars, distributed solar via these roof tiles and distributed storage via the Power Wall is to my knowledge the first integrated system that can (as efficencies improve) provide a complete renewable transportation option will mass apeal.

I've been eyeing the Tesla roof tiles for my house as well but now I have a growing concern about the health of Solar City.