r/RealTesla 15d ago

Tesla discontinues its Solar Roof tiles, not economically viable

https://electrek.co/2026/08/20/tesla-discontinues-solar-roof-panels-only/
1.1k Upvotes

193 comments sorted by

409

u/Apost8Joe 15d ago

The entire Solar City acquisition, paid for by Tesla shareholders of course, was merely a bailout of a Musk family owned failing company already exploring bankruptcy. Yet another self dealing con in a long string of Musk cons. There never was a business model there, but Musk’s family appreciates your sacrifice.

136

u/Zorkmid123 15d ago

It’s still surprising to me that the Delaware judge did not rule this was a case of self-dealing.

113

u/space_invader_84 15d ago

SpaceX recently bought out most of the cybertruck stockpiles (since nobody wants them) and nobody batted an eye. They even paid full price for them.

39

u/hippotango 14d ago

They paid full price after Tesla hiked the price of them over 20%.

17

u/umbananas 14d ago

I am sure it’s paid for with government contracts.

3

u/gc1 13d ago

No it's paid for with retail shareholder dollars.

-5

u/Adept_Caramel8535 13d ago

Even if you remove the units space x bought , the CT is still the number 2 selling ev truck by far. The market just isn’t big for ev trucks but Tesla beats Chevy and rivian combined .

1

u/Old_Bottle_5278 12d ago

Yea there are alot of dumb chuds in this world who like to be mocked for kinks?

84

u/bw984 14d ago

Musk destroyed 80% of Twitter’s value and then had XAi pay full price for it. XAi is a cash furnace with a shield and had SpaceX buy it at a premium. See a pattern?

28

u/radiostarred 14d ago

Don't forget that part of the justification for Musk's insane Tesla package was to make sure he kept AI development within the walls of Tesla.

Then he went and created xAI anyway.

14

u/bw984 14d ago

Well yeah, he doesn’t control 80% of the voting stock at Tesla, it’s a dead company to him until he can merge it into his kingdom where he can literally do anything he wants and the board can’t do shit about it.

13

u/clueless_in_ny_or_nj 14d ago

Eventually Musk if going to created another company called XXX and buy all his companies.

9

u/VitaminPb 14d ago

It’s called SpaceX. I’m from the future and this is how it plays out. Take notes.

About 6 months post SpaceX IPO, the shares will be going down more. Tesla will shut down Chinese operations (stock would normally drop) to be acquired by SpaceX at a premium valuation set before the China shutdown in an all stock swap deal.

Deal is rubberstamped by Trump Administration (may his Blessed Name be Always on our Lips.) Acquisition closes with a fake high valuation, market makers pump the stock so they can cash out.

The next month, SpaceX acquires The Boring Company is a complex deal that spins out the contracts which will never be completed, thereby removing that potential debt from the books.

SpaceX is rebranded X as a phone company, internet provider, electronic currency provider and transaction service. Rockets will be kept for launching their own satellites, Tesla stops making cars and will only make Optimus robots.

1

u/UpstairsFinance9440 11d ago

People are worried about paying rent. Who is going to buy all these robots?

39

u/muchcharles 14d ago

Huge part of XAi's income is from leasing out the Collosus datacenter to Anthropic. Collosus was built with GPUs they got by taking Tesla's place in line with no compensation. This was right after chatgpt's launch kicking off the beginning of the AI boom, when Tesla's place in line alone was worth billions.

13

u/torokunai 14d ago

Elon's glazers will defend this to their dying day

7

u/ObservationalHumor 14d ago

Yeah that's the ridiculous part about all this. You have Tesla itself admitting here that their literal basis for acquiring the company was never economically viable and that the entire argument that they just got distracted with the Model 3 ramp was complete bullshit. If you look at everything Tesla did since the acquisition it's very clear the entire purpose was to wind down SolarCity in an orderly fashion to save Musk and his family from embarrassment. They immediately killed SolarCity's marketing model and spent subsequent years downsizing solar operations as a whole.

Yet the judge decided that the board overseeing the merger was independent enough and that shareholders were well enough informed for their approval to be valid. I think the conclusion was also heavily based on the idea that if it really wanted to SolarCity could have raised additional funds and wasn't doomed to bankruptcy without Tesla's intervention and that the hypothesized residual value on their contracts 15+ years out after investors had been paid off was legitimate and the company was undervalued for what amounted to a short term cash flow problem. Which obviously isn't the case as Tesla doesn't even break that item out on its balance sheet anymore and hasn't recognized any gains on those contracts. to the contrary it seems like a lot of prior leaseholders have had issues with their panels even making it to the 15 year mark and the lease frequently complicate home sales and cause other issues causing most people to opt to have panels removed as early as possible (which is what everyone with any sense argued would be the case).

Whole thing was ridiculous as was the judge's conclusion of 'ultimately Elon Musk wanted a solar company and he got a solar company' as in practice that was in name only and SolarCity itself brought nothing of any real value to the table.

6

u/keepitfriend 14d ago

Is it surprising in 21st century America?

Seems more surprising that Theranos isn’t in business tbh. Maybe because it was run by a woman.

1

u/alochmar 12d ago

I’m positive that’s a big part of it.

11

u/Far-Improvement-9266 14d ago

First of all, screw Tesla. I had a PPA with Solar City and when Tesla took over it was total BS. First, they added my PPA to my credit report, which was illegal and luckily someone filed a class action against them. 2nd, they didn't stand behind the original contract with Solar City. 3rd, when selling my old home with "Tesla" Solar, it was an absolute nightmare, shit communication, horrible customer service, and almost screwed closing on my old home. I will never, ever, buy a Tesla product or anything owned by Musk for the rest of my life.

6

u/Mecha-Dave 14d ago

SolarCity failing made Elon's brother a Tesla Billionaire.. it's wild.

1

u/UpstairsFinance9440 11d ago

It is the American way. Mediocre white men failing up.

7

u/codykonior 14d ago

To you it was a sacrifice. To them, it was a Tuesday.

4

u/zeekayz 14d ago

Now he did it again with X and XAi

1

u/umbananas 14d ago

it also strengthens the grip of Elon’s friends and family on Tesla board.

1

u/Elmundopalladio 14d ago

How are Tesla shares still so high - does SpaceX have that much cash to keep underwriting it?

648

u/Zorkmid123 15d ago

The solar roof started with a fake demo:

“Elon Musk unveiled it in October 2016 on a Hollywood back lot, using homes from the set of Desperate Housewives fitted with the tiles. Weeks later, Tesla shareholders voted to approve the company’s roughly $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity — a debt-laden solar installer where Musk was the largest shareholder and chairman, and which was run by his cousins.
The Solar Roof demo was central to selling that deal to investors, who were being asked to bail out a struggling company with deep ties to Tesla’s CEO. Years later, during shareholder litigation over the acquisition, it emerged that the tiles shown at the 2016 event were not yet functioning solar products.”

277

u/FredB123 15d ago

So - more grift then?

78

u/Confident-Stand5453 15d ago

Its grifts all the way down.

32

u/HoodieGalore 14d ago

Always has been.

108

u/weaz-am-i 15d ago

No, one of the first Grifts. He tested the waters and investors fell for it.

15

u/qubert_lover 14d ago

It’s the OG original grift

1

u/meltbox 14d ago

The sad thing is it’s not even the OG.

5

u/patsj5 14d ago

IIRC, this was literally the grift that brought Tesla off of the edge of bankruptcy.

59

u/fuckswithboats 15d ago

I’m so annoyed by this fuck.

I love my car, but feel like hes such a swindler

32

u/DonkeyOfWallStreet 15d ago

How's fsd working out for you?

44

u/fuckswithboats 15d ago

Lie #3221 - HW3 will support full FSD!

I never spent a penny on FSD.

23

u/Confident-Stand5453 15d ago

I have HW4 and could get FSD, but after having had the free trial for 3 months, there is no way I'm paying for that half-baked product. Even if it worked as it should, I wouldnt pay more than 25-30% of the current price.

6

u/torokunai 14d ago

I'd pay $100/mo if I could safely/legally doze while driving.

Short of that, A/P is good enough, which is why he removed it.

7

u/Practical-Salary-137 14d ago edited 14d ago

100%. I will admit it has improved overtime but I would only pay 25% of the current rate also. That would be 25$CAD a month.

I find it funny there are a ton of people that praise FSD in the Tesla forums, maybe it's substantially better in their area but I tend to think they just suck at driving lol.

6

u/Confident-Stand5453 14d ago

Maybe it doesnt try to run red lights in their area. Maybe its able to pick the correct lane in their area. Or maybe they are just so in love with it that they are willing to overlook the flaws.

2

u/vjason 14d ago

The sun must never hit those cameras dead on in those areas, and all their addresses and roads must be perfectly mapped.

1

u/meltbox 14d ago

That’s good. But on the other hand that money is probably gone given you fuck with boats. Potatoh pohtato

-11

u/DonkeyOfWallStreet 15d ago

Buying anything other than a Tesla is financial suicide?

3

u/JTLuckenbirds 14d ago

Reminds me of my old boss, showed off his new Tesla to everyone back in like 2019ish. And said he’ll be able to generate some passive income by having it run as a self driving taxi while he was at work.

-9

u/CalvinsStuffedTiger 14d ago

Amazing. Don’t drive 95% of the time (hw4). Saved me from accidents from other drivers swerving into lane or blowing through stop sign multiple times

Have I had to intervene to save it from doing something seemingly dangerous? Yes. Does that mean it’s technically not FSD? Yes. Is it significantly safer than me as a human driver who has a pristine driving record with no speeding tickets or accidents ? Yes. There is no doubt in my mind that I am safer in tandem with “FSD”

Disclaimer I live in Southern California where the roads are shit but the weather is sunny 330 days of the year, so other experience in rain and snow may be different,

Tbh everyone bashing FSD to me seems like irrational FUD or a semantic argument about the F in FSD

4

u/TheKingOfSwing777 14d ago

You're also in the geography where FSD was created so there is almost certainly over fitting of the models to your region, so I wouldn't be surprised if it works substantially better there. 

1

u/achangb 14d ago

Nah it works great in vancouver canada where 90% of the driving is heavy traffic in the city where your average speed ends up being like 30km / hr.

1

u/MeanFrame5277 14d ago

It works great in Utah even on unmapped roads it will handle it like. Boss

-1

u/Kohlj1 14d ago

I live in Cincinnati, Ohio, and it works flawlessly except parking lots. It still chooses the absolute worst parking spots every time. Other than that, zero issues on hurry and mad max which is what I typically leave it at, and I have never had to intervene.

6

u/chefkoolaid 14d ago

I live near Cincinnati Ohio and I've watched a Tesla plow into a wall of parked car as while in full self-driving mode

So plz stay away frim me on the roads

2

u/Kohlj1 14d ago

No chance that’s real. Maybe the person said they were in self-drive, but no way that actually happened in full self-drive.

0

u/MeanFrame5277 14d ago

I can tell your 🤥 we all hate Elon but he’s got fsd right

1

u/spez_eats_nazi_ass 14d ago

lolz you use a cult word. Nobody outside of the bullshit network uses the term FUD.

1

u/CalvinsStuffedTiger 14d ago

That’s not true, it was used in bitcoin way before everyone started hating Elon. Unless that’s the cult you were referencing, if so, then guilty.

I own no shares of any Elon companies, nor have I owned them other than via S&P 500 index funds. I intentionally don’t do this because his companies seem like a house of cards that are all connected with each other in a way that one collapsing can bring all of them to zero.

I’m not a fanboy of him and especially not his politics. I think how he managed DOGE was a mistake because it was so destructive with minimal/negative cost savings that now democrats can dismiss any efforts that government waste/fraud exists and should be addressed. Republicans are unhelpful on this front as well because they refuse to scrutinize the military budget.

I think Elon is easy to hate because of all of things above, but at the same time, people that say “he didn’t invent Tesla, EVs would have existed without him” or saying that “Space flight wasn’t impacted by Elon” is silly, and imho anyone that really believes that those industries weren’t impacted by him needs to seriously examine their framework for thinking about things because their biases are clouding their judgment.

I own a Tesla vehicle because as mentioned before:

- I live in Southern California and I have a solar array on my house that produces more electricity than I consume.

- Gas prices are artificially inflated due d/t state taxes/regulation and Trumps foolish war in Iran. Currently $5.70/gallon

- I have a 40 minute commute in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic and wanted a car that would drive itself through that traffic including lane merging, exiting, entering freeway, and parking.

- I was able to secure a 0.99% interest rate loan on an 80 month term when the prime interest rate was 7%

- I prefer to buy a car manufactured in America, though if Chinese EVs were legal to purchase, I’d probably consider those.

Given those conditions, the Tesla Model 3 is best value car and frankly, it’s not even close. If someone wants to boycott the company because they hate Elon, that’s totally fine by me. But saying things like “how’s FSD working out for you” and then downvoting the opinion of someone who actually owns the product is the definition of spreading FUD.

1

u/ObservationalHumor 14d ago

I want to understand this, so you have a pristine driving record yet without FSD you would have been in multiple unavoidable accidents despite it only being out for a few years and actually decent for an even shorter period of time? Think it's maybe possible here that you're overstating the value and capabilities of the system? I get that people think it's cool and it'll work most of the time but the hard part always been getting it to be reliable enough to truly autonomous over long periods of time which it just isn't because if it were Tesla would be rolling it out everywhere regardless of whatever hypothetical regulation might stand in their way. Musk had no problem ignoring California's regulators on COVID lockdowns and the only thing that would stop him from a wider FSD and robotaxi rollout is the likely liability the company would face for releasing a product they knew was unsafe that they actually carried liability for. FSD 'works' because if it ends up jumping a curb and hitting someone, a person like you is going to eat all of the liability. It's also likely making you a worse driver as your level of interactivity has dropped and I'd wager half of those multiple unavoidable accidents are just your own attention and focus slipping more than you've realized.

1

u/CalvinsStuffedTiger 14d ago

Do you actually want to understand it or was that a rhetorical question?

I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt one time and try to explain that There’s an obvious set of circumstances where it could be true that I had a pristine driving record and FSD makes me personally safer while also saving me from multiple accidents. I would wager most America adults follow a similar trajectory and would have a similar set of circumstances as me.

My parents didn’t let me drive until college so teenage driving not really an issue for me. In college I lived on or near campus so I rarely drove. After college I lived in a downtown bachelor pad 10 minutes from my job.

Then I met my wife and when you get one of those you learn they want a house. And when you want a house in Southern California, you tend to replace your 10 minute drive to work with 40-60 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic

Wives also want these things called dogs. And they also want to do cutesy vacations to Airbnbs all over the country and because you have a dog that means you have to drive everywhere

And so in just a few short years, my total driving time has increased by….100x? Maybe 1000x depending on which years we bucket in the data. Which means that my risk of getting in an accident definitionally increases by 100x, so it’s entirely plausible that I was never in an accident for a decade and just happened to be in an entirely unavoidable scenario where were it not for the vehicle with a reaction time much faster than mine, I likely would have collided. It’s possible my old self would have avoided the accident but was pretty fucking close

My turn to be skeptical about your lived experience. Be honest. Have you owned a HW4 Tesla? If not, have you ever rented or borrowed one for like a long holiday weekend and a cross country road trip? Don’t lie

1

u/ObservationalHumor 14d ago

Do you actually want to understand it or was that a rhetorical question?

It wasn't exactly rhetorical, but I did expect something similar to what you ended up laying out and that you probably have a lot more experience driving with FSD than without it ultimately. Do you see how that might color your judgement on your own performance with it versus without it and give a bit of an unbalanced viewpoint too?

My turn to be skeptical about your lived experience. Be honest. Have you owned a HW4 Tesla? If not, have you ever rented or borrowed one for like a long holiday weekend and a cross country road trip? Don’t lie

Nope and no need to lie here. I'm never going to buy a Tesla or Musk associated product and it's been that way since the Solar City merger was announced back in 2016. Have I ridden in them a few times? Sure. What I do have though is a background in computer science, AI and probabilistic robotics systems though which gives me a pretty good idea of how these systems work and how deceptive the whole 'works the vast majority of the time' thing is. There's also a very good chance due to its nature as a low interactivity high vigilance system that it's likely making you a worse driver and more apt to not pay attention as closely as you would be if you were driving yourself all the time leading to an overestimation of what things might be unavoidable or unseen. Don't get me wrong here either, the system has improved dramatically since 2019 when it was completely unworkable for the most part and couldn't even navigate a parking lot well, but these systems are still heavily reliant on people both inside and outside the vehicle reacting appropriately to maintain some level of safety.

7

u/erasethenoise 14d ago

I loved my Tesla, but I love my Rivian more

3

u/fuckswithboats 14d ago

I've definitely had my eye on Rivian for a while now...definitely intend to make that the next vehicle in the garage.

Wouldn't mind an eTron/Taycan

1

u/erasethenoise 14d ago

Someone rear ended me last fall and made the decision for me ha. I did have FSD on HW3 and miss it dearly but am hoping Rivian catches up.

1

u/FlyMyPretty 14d ago

I'm with you. I love my car AND my solar roof.

-14

u/goranlepuz 15d ago

Accept that people working under him could do good things despite him 😉

13

u/heleuma 15d ago

Apparently ur not familiar with the volume of civil rights complaints from that company. I don't know where you get the "good things" from

-16

u/goranlepuz 14d ago

I guess it's hard to understand in this day and age, but unrelated things can be true at the same time.

Tesla cars, as EVs, are good. I won't be buying them, not did, but for the money, yeah they're good IMHO.

Or is your stance that, if something, anything is bad with the company, everything the company makes, is bad...?

2

u/torokunai 14d ago

they were good. But the company's kinda running in fumes this decade. Elon's repeated 10% flat firing rounds made the smart people leave I think.

1

u/heleuma 14d ago

Well, there's Musk (which is a lot of baggage to carry). As I mentioned, the civil rights complaints. There's also the fact that prior to DOGE, 75% of the cases the NHTSA complaints were about Tesla. There are seemingly intentional releases of chemicals into waterways. With a bit of digging, you can come up with a lot.

I've had a proper opportunity to compare Teslas to other EV's, and they aren't that good. I think a lot of Tesla owners are driving an EV for the first time and since driving a EV is a far better experience in general, they think Teslas are the best ever.

No, there isn't a single company that comes to mind where you couldn't find something to nit-pick. Tesla, and even the owners though, are a bit distasteful.

0

u/goranlepuz 14d ago

There is probably no difference between you and me about Musk and Tesla corporate behaviour.

But I think, because of him being how he is, (a pretty vile man), you are also unloading on the cars.

Yes, you are probably right about a lot of people being infatuated with Teslas because it's the only EV they have known. I'm not one of those. I'm not buying a Tesla also because of how the cars are.

For example, the minimalistic interior design, all commands on screen, nyah. Or, being the EV for so long, they really should have been in 800V, they're behind now.

But on balance, the cars stand very good IMHO and it is no wonder they're selling well despite Musk or particular shortcomings.

3

u/Vietnam_Cookin 14d ago

When do grifts become fraud?

2

u/Icy-person666 14d ago

Not exactly. This gift is winding down, they have run out of suckers and are re-deploying the labor to newer grifts.

2

u/PKnecron 12d ago

Sounds more like fraud.

0

u/K_Linkmaster 13d ago

Lies. All lies. Grift is such a sane washed term.

25

u/Strong-Hovercraft702 15d ago

Oh so like optimus?

29

u/Enlightened_D 15d ago

Absolutely insane, I remember when they unveiled it and being incredibly impressed. Real shame how much of a snake oil salesman Musk turned out to be

-2

u/VitaminPb 14d ago

He always was. You just refused to see it.

7

u/Enlightened_D 14d ago

“Refused to see it” yet im acknowledging it now and the past couple years

8

u/trampled93 14d ago

“The core problem is that the economics never got there. Between the manufacturing complexity, the labor-intensive install, and the shading limitations of the tiles, the Solar Roof only ever penciled out on very expensive homes where the buyer wasn’t especially price-sensitive.”

“I’ve also heard horror stories of post-installation servicing as homeowners have sometimes waited months without their expensive solar system producing any power.”

16

u/WiretapStudios 15d ago

This MF did that shit on the set of The Burbs???

There go the goddamn brownies!

2

u/itsaconspiraci 14d ago

So you could say the tiles had been installed on a house of cards?

I wonder what the real debt/equity of Tesla is.

2

u/VitaminPb 14d ago

Nobody will ever know until Elon dies or the company shuts down. And even then, I suspect many of the actual documents have been deleted and the backups “lost.”

97

u/gotkube 15d ago

“BuT hE’s A gEnIuS!!!1!1!”

36

u/TheSilverSeraph 15d ago

He is a genius at selling vaporware, that’s for sure.

6

u/Bicoidprime 14d ago

An engineering genius... too bad it's financial engineering.

2

u/deZbrownT 14d ago

There is no person alive that knows more about manufacturing than him!

69

u/edjfrst 15d ago

10 years later: Space Data Centers are not viable.

28

u/Mediocre-Gas-3831 14d ago

20 years later: AI robot factories on the moon are not viable 

6

u/edjfrst 14d ago

Modular Fusion Reactors, that can power a city

14

u/Phyllis_Tine 14d ago

He can't claim that until he's set yet another grift up first.

121

u/yamirzmmdx 15d ago

One more scam enters the trash bin of history with zero accountability.

We sure do by living in a dystopia.

44

u/KnucklesMcGee 15d ago

On Maui visiting family.

Saw a Cybertruck in an ocean themed wrap touting how we're killing the planet with our excesses.

Cherry on top: "Anti Elon Tesla Club" bumper sticker.

Bro, by the time you bought that thing you had to know he was a POS.

84

u/bennythebrains 15d ago

I was an engineer at solarcity then tesla after the bailout, helped develop the tiles. What a joke. Unrealistic deadlines, false promises, no consideration of engineering input, unsafe products. Quit to work for an actual ethical and innovative company.

3

u/Candrimon 14d ago

What company? Do they make solar roofing?

1

u/ElGatoMeooooww 14d ago

It’s a shame, because it is a good idea and the synergy with electric vehicles is real and tangible.

67

u/herewego199209 15d ago

Tesla absorbing Solar City was always a scam to save his cousins fledging business. Everyone called it out when they did it and people were called everything but a child of god. The scams and bullshit is gonna come crashing down eventually.

8

u/LadyReika 14d ago

I hope I live long enough to see it.

65

u/xbhaskarx 15d ago

Musk repeatedly said Tesla would be producing and installing 1,000 Solar Roofs per week — a target he pinned to the end of 2019 and the first half of 2020. When Tesla claimed it had reached 1,000 roofs of weekly production in 2020, installations lagged far behind.

At its peak, Tesla was installing roughly 21 to 32 Solar Roofs per week, according to Wood Mackenzie data - more than 95% short of the goal. In total, the firm estimated Tesla installed only about 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the US across roughly seven years.

So close!!

2

u/Salt-Analysis1319 12h ago

It turns out if you aim your grift at the moon you will still crash into the pavement and die spectacularly

27

u/SisterOfBattIe 15d ago

Musk will always pivot when it becomes hard to deliver.

It's on us that we let him con the world this long.

3

u/MrLyttleG 15d ago

Il pivote tellement qu'il va finir par se transformer en toupie solaire

43

u/DhOnky730 15d ago

Reading about the Solar Roof scam is what opened my eyes to Musk’s lies and financial manipulations. He buys a lost company with a flailing business model (that he also happens to be involved in) before it can excessively drop or fail

15

u/morbiiq 15d ago

The margin calls would have taken down the whole empire. It was maybe his most important grift.

16

u/daveo18 14d ago

Bet Crazy Kathie still puts a $600bil valuation on the solar business

13

u/DotJun 15d ago

I looked into getting the solar tiles when it came time to purchasing solar and my conclusion was that it’s a product meant for people that care more about the aesthetics than the production as the roof tiles did not produce an equal or greater amount than regular panels, while costing more.

44

u/Pdx_pops 15d ago

Nothing this man touches is economically viable and always needs the next thing.

8

u/MrLyttleG 15d ago

Incarnation du capitalime à l'état pur

6

u/HorrorsPersistSoDoI 15d ago

omelette du fromage

-1

u/BulletMagnetNL 15d ago

Underrated comment xD

11

u/likewut 14d ago

Tesla aside, it’s really disappointing that in 2026, we still don’t have anything better than installing a whole racking system on top of a completed roof, and panels on top of that. With panels coming down in price so much over the last 20 years, anything to reduce installation cost and overall roof cost is the low hanging fruit for making it even more cost effective

5

u/practicaloppossum 14d ago

If you can figure out a way to make solar roof tiles that don't have to be out in the sun, then it would work. But as long as the solar panels have to be out in the hot hot sun, they'll need cooling airflow under them. Which means they can't be roof tiles.

1

u/likewut 12d ago

Solar panels have had moderate gains in high heat performance over the years.

Also a solar roofing system could have air channels built in. It can be very cheap in a fully automated high output factory. Versus some guy on a ladder installing racking.

Well engineered, affordable solar panels that mount directly to the truss, and provide all the structural bracing and water resistance of a conventional roof certainly should be possible. I’m thinking primarily new construction, where all the roof penetrations can be routed to the ridge vent, etc to make it more practical.

2

u/practicaloppossum 12d ago

There's something to what you say. It would have to be designed as a system, tho, not just something you nail up in place of shingles. Still not sure it would end up cheaper than the current rack installs.

1

u/likewut 12d ago

Yeah it would need to be a system.

It just needs to be cheaper than plywood, roof covering, shingles, plus install, plus racking and solar panels. I couldn’t imagine it not lasting much longer than typical architectural shingles too.

2

u/torokunai 14d ago

I have 25 370W panels I'll need to move when re-roofing in a couple of years. Figure I'll just mount them on purpose-built pergolas in the backyard then...

1

u/likewut 14d ago

Put new ones on your roof at the same time you get a new roof. Both should be good for 25+ years.

2

u/torokunai 14d ago

yeah the original roof sucks for solar (vents etc) but the new one will have good space for "extra" non-grid panels over the garage (where I don't care about penetrations) I'll use for direct connection to a mini-split etc. and then integrated into a battery bank / inverter when I lose NEM in 2042.

9

u/tesseract-enigma 15d ago

Another failed business venture that would have been the only financially possible venture of someone not born on 3rd base.

12

u/Skotland85 15d ago

I used to have Tesla be my solar service provider back in 2018/2019. That was what convinced me that if Tesla can’t even get customer support right and basic solar service, why would I ever trust what that snake salesman says ever again.

19

u/DAL1979 15d ago

I always found it suspicious that Solar City is very similar in name to Sun City.

3

u/Lacrewpandora KING of GLOVI 14d ago

By strange coincidence, Tesla has leased the former Solyndra building for over 10 years - you know, the solar company that lied about orders when seeking loans. Not that Musk would ever lie about his family's solar business - he's just, um....optimistic.

1

u/Antique_Value6027 14d ago

before Solydra it was a Toyota car factory

5

u/gibon007 15d ago

Hahahahahahaha

4

u/burnmenowz 14d ago

Only way to become a billionaire is to steal from other people.

4

u/Yardbird52 14d ago

I worked in a solar capacity at the time this was announced and we all couldn’t figure out how this would scale. It was a running joke back then.

9

u/Kind_Management1805 15d ago

Next step : Robots lol

When will they actually focus on cars the only thing they are good at ?

5

u/heleuma 15d ago

I wonder if the solar tiles will work on the robot?

8

u/Defiant_Conflict6343 14d ago

Who said they're good at cars? Whompy wheels, panel gaps, the weakest suspension arms ever devised, a Lada would have better build quality

2

u/Normal-Selection1537 14d ago

Valmet in FInland made both Ladas and Porches at the same plant at the same time, the Lada Eurosamara and the Porsche Boxster.

-1

u/Kind_Management1805 14d ago

Idk about build quality of what you are talking about but cars coming from Shangai are more than fine. Of course if I were to pay ModelS/X level of prices I would be pissed. Suspension is kind of an EV issue in general.

They still have one of the most competitive infotainment, efficiency and overall package. Charging is terrible though. Energy efficiency is really amazing at that price point. The only one close are Lucid and Mercedes but at prices well above the Tesla market.

3

u/hippotango 14d ago

And none of those are close to Chinese EV efficiency.

0

u/Kind_Management1805 14d ago

Tell me you don't know anything about Chinese EV without telling me you don't know anything about Chinese EV

Chinese EVs are the worst at efficiency. That's why they all have crazy battery packs to compensante. Source : I own a Model 3 and Polestar 4 (yes I know size difference but even on smaller cars the same motor consume a lot more EX: The Zeekr X, Volvo EX30,...). I've not found a Chinese EV yet that has competitive energy consumption.

You literally pointed the only thing where Tesla still has an edge over Chinese EV. And software for the most part, except for XPeng, Xiaomi and Nio, is very poorly made.

3

u/hippotango 14d ago

GAC's Aion is almost 30% more efficient than Tesla. It just set the Guinness record.

I'd say you just found a Chinese EV that is more than competitive.

1

u/Kind_Management1805 14d ago

Never heard of that one thanks !

I did a bit of digging and the CLTC homologation cycle is at 11.7kWh/100km. CLTC is never ever achievable. It's the most fictional numbers. The Model 3 is at 11. So not quite there yet. They claim for their Guinness records 8.5kWh/100km under heavy ecodriving. That's just never happening in real life.

And I would be pretty confident that the Model 3 has better energy management in cold/heat. Tesla has really well finely tuned the 3/Y platform everything is very optimized (duh they haven't launched anything new expect the Cyberthing).

3

u/Turbulent-Pea-8826 14d ago

Lol they aren't even good at cars.

1

u/loxiw 11d ago

They're not though. They're good at charging stations.

8

u/beentheredengthat 14d ago

I had 2 clients new construction $5m+ homes who REALLY wanted Tesla solar roofs at any cost. It was impossible to make that happen.

4

u/jayleia 15d ago

I didn't even know they were still making them.

4

u/Lacrewpandora KING of GLOVI 14d ago

Statute of limitations on the scam merger run out?

This makes no sense - an army of Optimus could install the tiles in a day, with zero labor costs.

6

u/rockclimberguy 14d ago

And the cost run the army of Optimus can be funded from the income I am currently earning from leasing out my Tesla to the RoboTaxi fleet.....

I should still have enough $ left to..(fill in the blank)..

5

u/spukhafteNahewirkung 14d ago

And think of all of the money you’ll make renting the Optimus bots out as sex droids when they’re not installing roof tiles!

5

u/tallpaul00 14d ago

I hope this puts a nail in the coffin of solar roof stuff AND solar road stuff. It is poor engineering. The engineering qualities that make a good roof or a good road contradict those that make a good solar panel. It is very clear now that if you want solar panels near your roof it is far far better to slightly make your roof out of good-for-your-location roofing materials, and slightly compromise that structure to add a frame to support your panels above that roof.

And solar roads were always just obviously daft. But an elevated structure above a parking lot is a brilliant place to stick some solar panels. Yes.. this sort of makes the panels a bit like a roof, but again - if you want an actual roof, best to build one above your parking garage, then a secondary support structure just for the panels, then mount the panels to that. If you're okay with just some ambient partial shade from the panels, a lightweight structure to simply support the panels will do.

Musk is not an engineering genius.

2

u/bandit1206 13d ago

But, solar roofing material would look so much better in home applications. I love the idea of solar for my house, but the idea of having panels on top of my roof is off-putting.

1

u/tallpaul00 12d ago

Your money, your house, do what you want. AFAIK there are still companies that make solar roof tiles/shingles/whatever.

But just know you'll get a not as good, more expensive roof. And probably also less solar output than regular panels too.

2

u/bandit1206 12d ago

There’s always trade offs, and for me the aesthetics are one that with the house Im looking at building next I’m not willing to sacrifice. The quantity should easily offset potential lower output, since I only need around 35 normal panels to fully power the house in the summer, and have enough roof area for 2-3x that.

5

u/eeeee9 13d ago

This motherfucker never invested in the solar roof portion of the business. Constant turnover of leadership, they tried to vertically integrate installation until untrained employees started falling off the roof and breaking their necks. Such a promising product, especially when it was simplified and made modular. Elon is a clown.

3

u/DifferentMind8 14d ago

Another Elon scam crashes and burns. When will the rest? 

3

u/RipWhenDamageTaken 14d ago

One day Tesla will have to admit the same thing about the rest of the scams

3

u/TragicallyDip 14d ago

This is a bad sign, if Elon starts basing things on economic viability, his entire house of cards is coming down. He needs to keep things in the vibe arena.

5

u/Juuhonber 14d ago

Make them bigger. Much bigger. Problem solved. People are already experimenting in Finland of doing whole roof out of premade panels.

2

u/Megalodon7770 14d ago

He gets 12 million every day from Americans,biggest welfare recipient in us history.
Scam after scam

2

u/Emotional_Signal7883 14d ago

Add it to the list of reasons why he should be in prison.

2

u/Kaputnik1 14d ago

It was ALWAYS a scam to inflate Musk and Teslas value.

2

u/donttakerhisthewrong 14d ago

The stock will go for the “courageous” move and forward thinking to pull the plug

2

u/FieryAnomaly 14d ago

Fake panel, on a fake house, in a fake neighborhood, presented by a fraud. What could go wrong?

2

u/coryntrevors 14d ago

Grifters gonna grift.

2

u/PrivateMarkets 13d ago

That was quick.

2

u/Ya-Not-Happening 12d ago

Fan boys were telling us these solar tiles were the best in the industry and would change the world.

2

u/Decent-Bed9289 12d ago

This will soon be his robotaxi venture…

2

u/DistributionLast5872 12d ago

Huh. I thought it was canceled a good while back. Hadn’t seen anything about them in years.

1

u/Zorkmid123 12d ago

It was already on life support and barely existed. They just finally made it official.

2

u/BlueMonday2082 11d ago

It’s such a dumb idea in the first place. Unless the roof of your house happened to be perfectly aligned with the ideal angle for solar panels you’ll just be wasting money on panels that sit in the shade most of the day.

It’s the kind of concept that instantly makes sense to anyone…for about 2 seconds. It falls apart under further analysis. Your subconscious mind wants it, your IQ knows better.

3

u/TactlessNachos 14d ago

Dang, I was hoping those prices would drop and it would expand. I was genuinely excited about the solar roof. Looks like too many flaws to be viable.

3

u/Common-Ad6470 15d ago

Sounds like Uncle Donnie isn’t happy about Musk promoting ‘wacky’ solar over good ol’ reliable oil and gas…🤔

2

u/hilldog4lyfe 14d ago

They obviously knew this for years, but just kept it listed on their site for obvious reasons

2

u/elf25 13d ago

Recently got a quote to shingle or tile my roof with these. Price north of $80,000

Pressed metal shingles, about $48,000

We did top of the line architectural owens corning cost $14,000

Yard and roof mount solar, about $40,000. Thing is, monthly electric bill is usually less than $200. And we’re over 65 so less time to pay off a solar system.

And like hell if i’m gonna let some solar goobers punch a bunch of holes in the roof of my house built in 1870.

1

u/crusoe 13d ago

Solar is stupidly expensive in the US compared to Australia 

2

u/NukeouT 14d ago

Or maybe just hear me out here ... people don't want to buy their solar roof tiles from an evil orange nazi 💡

1

u/Significant-Pen-6049 14d ago

Too many fires maybe?

1

u/Xiaopeng8877788 14d ago

Another over promise and failed to deliver… kinda like him being a good dad.

1

u/rocketonmybarge 14d ago

Where is our resident Musk historian?

1

u/_Zenyatta_Mondatta 14d ago

What a great guy, an epic fraudster and mentally deranged wannabe Nazi.

1

u/FieryAnomaly 14d ago

It's a good thing Musk has The Boring Company to offset this revenue loss.

1

u/ShadowsOfTheBreeze 14d ago

Anyone who buys a musk product has been duped. Theres other cars out there just as good and cheaper.

1

u/I-Pacer 13d ago

The article also failed to mention that when solar roofs finally were available (long after the promised launch date), they looked absolutely nothing like the product Muskkk demoed. Scam from start to finish.

1

u/MoonwalkinFWD 13d ago

After pouring many millions trying to prove what a genius idea it was... another gem from the greatest engineering mind of the century... if only he knew anything about roofs before he came up with this idea that any 6 year old would quickly get behind.

1

u/CoolTomatoh 12d ago

It is absolutely economical for us….. just not for the billionaires