New TESLA photovoltaic tiles
Tesla's New Solar Roof
Elon Musk is suggesting that the new version of Tesla's solar shingles will be even less expensive and will be roughly equivalent to the cost of a shingled roof plus the electric bill, which the solar roof will cut through solar power generation.
When Tesla launched its solar roof tiles in 2017, the automaker said it would begin production and installation in 2018.
However, the rollout was much slower, with installations limited to the homes of a few executives and customers. Tesla later delayed production until 2019.
CEO Elon Musk has said he needs to make some changes to the product to make sure it lasts 30 years. At Tesla’s 2019 shareholder meeting, Musk said he is completing a third version of the Tesla Solar Roof: “We’re about to complete version 3 of the solar roof, and that’s actually a pretty hard technology problem, to have a solar cell integrated with a roof tile, and look good, and last 30 years.”
The CEO explained that they had difficulty performing accelerated tests on the roof, but now they feel more confident.
With the third version, Musk seems confident that Tesla can bring the cost down to a very affordable level: “I’m very excited about version 3 of the solar roof, this is one of the cheapest roofs available. So you can have a great roof with better economy than a regular roof and a pretty cheap bill.”
When it first launched its product, Tesla said that “the typical homeowner can expect to pay $21,85 per square foot for a solar roof.”
It is quite an expensive product even though it comes with a lifetime home warranty and a 30 year guaranteed power generation.
In the new release, Tesla estimates that its solar roof will be cheaper than a similarly styled non-solar tile roof and will virtually pay for itself through electricity savings.
As for installation time, Tesla said it should take about the same amount of time to install a tile roof, which is typically 5-7 days.
Earlier this year, we reported that the Tesla Solar Roof installation was still taking about 2 weeks.
Installation time must decrease to increase distribution.
The “tiles” have an interesting appearance with different surface treatments, the color is dark typical of monocrystalline silicon.
The fixing system from an image of the positioning phases, it seems quite simple but the technical specifications have not yet been released.
If Tesla manages to improve production costs, and the declared specifications, primarily cost and duration, are true, there will be a significant technological leap in the field of electricity production and current photovoltaic systems will become obsolete.
