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Solar Roof update of sorts

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Without any installation details or fire mitigation testing data/results from Tesla, there's no way we can guess at the feasibility of #1-3. If Tesla hasn't factored these things in, that's the biggest concern. I'm sure they have as it's probably compulsory for UL compliance but I'm no governance expert. And, d'oh, yeah your Portland, ME scenario's also legit!
We have enough details to cover #1 an #3.
Pictures of the panels being displayed by Elon nearly show two nailing holes near the top edge, just like all other roof tiles. The slate and Tuscan tiles are long from lower to upper edge, so would overlap the previous course by as much as half, just as clay and concrete tiles do, so they could be ripped up fairly easily. The plain and textured tiles are clearly much shorter - probably about 8" - bottom to top, so would overlap only an inch or two; even easier to rip up than wood shingles.
Neither clay nor concrete tiles nor true slate can burn or melt, so they too would hide hot spots as much as SolarRoof tiles would. Wood or composition shingles, shakes, or metal roofs, being much lighter than any sort of tiles, would hide structural weaknesses even better, so I don't understand your concern about that.
 
They do. But keep in mind, you're looking at a 2 dimensional picture of a mix of 2D and 3D roofing surfaces. I wonder if it looks as good in person.
I contacted the company and asked if there were any installations near mean Orange County, CA. He said that there is an approved contractor nearby and that he would let me know when they had some installations that I could see. That was over a month ago and I've still heard nothing yet.
 
they contacted me to come out and do a site survey for the powerwall. They sent out a solarcity person and he was clueless. All he did was take pictures and measurements.

It's been a few weeks and I can't get an update. My solar city rep has no info nor has access to any and my tesla energy rep hasn't returned my call.

I just canceled my deposit. It was a nice to have. I really just wanted the solar roofs but I can't wait any longer so I'm going with a competitor and a traditional solar system and no battery.
 
After reading about Tesla's plan to delay release of two of the Solar Roof styles until 2018, I was looking for more information and stumbled on this little demo video about the strength of the tiles compared to other materials when a 1.2lb steel ball is dropped from considerable height onto each of them. It was then that I noticed the wood blocks under the various tiles.

The concrete and slate flat tiles are set up with small wood blocks under their corners and the ball dropped near the center. The terra cotta tile has several blocks stacked to raise the back so that it is supported at three points, by those blocks at back center and its two front corners, with the steel ball impacting the center.

The Tesla flat tile, however, is supported by a 1x2 batten across its entire width a little back from the front edge and the steel ball appears to impact on top of that wood batten, that would prevent deflection, rather than in the unsupported middle part of the tile.

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I know from experience how fragile concrete and terra cotta roof tiles are, and I think that Tesla glass tiles might be stronger, but I am disappointed to see the unequal conditions of this breakage demonstration.
 
Did they mention which two styles are delayed?

Sigh... Despite what you've read in the click bait articles going around, there is no delay (as far as we know).

In this SolarCity Q&A from November, Elon says they'll start with the most popular option in the summer and then introduce the next 3 styles in roughly 3 month intervals.

If anything they've ACCELERATED the plan by introducing 2 styles upfront.
 
Has anyone got a quote on price of solar roof versus solar panels? I am debating whether to install roof + panels or do solar roof? Right now my roof is fine.
Since SolarRoof is not available until late 2018, there's no choice to be made right now anyway. Cost of solar roof is supposedly $22 per square foot on average, which for most houses is about three times cost of solar panels added on to an existing roof.

Tesla still, after all this time, has yet to release any specifications beyond physical size of the tiles, so no one knows how much output each tile has. Their so-called online estimator gives the same % active tiles for a wide range of usage inputs, so trying to calculate back from that is impossible.

My advice is to go ahead with solar panels on your existing roof and get them from anyone other than Solar City/Tesla Energy.
 
Do we have any hard evidence of the "panel mix" that will come out of the Buffalo factory? I'm hoping a fair amount is their new sleeker standard panels, but all the hype is going to the solar roof.

I guess it makes sense to proceed with caution if you're the decision maker, we may very well see that $.77/W floor put on imported panels in which case you'd want to go 100% traditional and slow your roll on solar roof.