Starting My Tesla Roof Journey

I am going to be getting a new Tesla Solar roof. This link is the Tesla Solar Roof Construction Guide. Tesla is backlogged on starting the process for a new Solar roof. I initiated the process at the beginning of December, 2020 but they will not send out the first project estimators until January, 2021.

I did get a general price estimate. The glass tiles of the non-power solar tiles are about $7.65 per square foot. The solar roof tiles are $2.01 per watt (prices as of December, 2020). A 10kW solar roof for about 2100 square feet is about $32000 after $6000 in incentives.

The price is just a bit more than shingle roof and then adding regular solar on top. The price is less than any premium clay tile roof or other better roof material. Especially if you add in regular solar panels on top of the roof.

Each roof tile measures 15 x 45 inches and has a 25-year warranty. The solar roof tiles can handle 1.75 inch diameter hail and wind speeds up to 166 miles per hour.

A conventional 10kW system would costs about $19,000-20,000 after the federal tax credit in the USA. This is $12,000 less than the cost of Tesla’s solar roof. An Asphalt shingle roof is about $7000 for 2000 square feet.

If you want anything better than an Asphalt shingle roof and want solar then the combined Tesla solar roof seems to be superior on cost and durability. If you need to replace your roof and want to add solar then the Tesla solar roof is a good choice. You need to plan to get the Tesla roof work aligned with your home addition or construction project schedule.

If you do plan on getting electric cars in the future, then be sure to get extra solar energy on your roof.

If you do get Tesla cars or Tesla solar and want to help support this site, then Nextbigfuture would appreciate the use of Brians Tesla referral link. Thanks.

Nextbigfuture will provide more information on the Tesla solar roof installation and usage experience as it happens over the next six to eight months.

SOURCES – Tesla, Brian Wang
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com

16 thoughts on “Starting My Tesla Roof Journey”

  1. The solar roof tiles are $2.01 per watt

    In china, nuclear is ~$3 per watt and utility PV $0.184 per watt.
    Avg US residential pv recently went under $3 per watt.

    Everyone that wants pv should forgo rooftop and instead join an investment vehicle building new utility scale pv plants.

    Utility scale is Falcon 9 and rooftop is SLS.

  2. When I bother to do the calculation I wonder if it would be days or weeks of solar panel electricity production to make up for that electricity use after each snow storm.
    Also solar tending to cause peaks & troughs in other electricity demand is bad enough without something like that.

  3. One reason for that was to avoid trouble with hidebound HOAs, in states that still allow them to restrict solar.

  4. Tesla likes to learn by doing.

    Have fun being a guinea pig. Maybe get a bunch of pictures of the bare roof. When something goes wrong, it might be valuable to have evidence it was their fault.

  5. I love the idea of integrated solar. I just wish they didn't try to hide it by making it look like a normal tile.

    But then I'm also the sort of guy who likes cybertrucks.

  6. Maybe the addition of some kind of heating elements to get rid of the snow you can toggle on-demand would be an option? Sure it uses power from the grid, but once cleared you can resume the collection of solar power.

  7. I noticed the entry for 'Snow Load'
    If you want solar in a region that gets snow you should tilt your panels at least 45 degrees from horizontal so the snow slides off & you continue to get power after the snow storm.
    Also if you are in a region that gets snow you probably need more power in winter than summer so an even higher tilt to optimize for winter power production would be best.

  8. The developed countries, states and large utilities should look at following France to use substantial amount of nuclear energy. Several new reactors look very good. Deep pool reactors for safe heating, the small modular reactors look good. Molten salt. They will not get licensed and approved until 2025-2040. I. The meantime, there are better options than pacific gas and electric and since I will need a new roof then this option is best.

    PGE had about 50% nuclear and then shutdown the nuclear reactors. Some already shut and others shutting. The incompetence of PGE makes getting your own power generation the clear best choice.

  9. A complete no-brainer for new construction, and absolutely, if you need a new roof and want solar at the same time, your research confirms it still makes sense. They look great, and appear to be highly indestructible. Barring a missing tile, these should render any leaks a thing of the past.

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