Tesla Glass Tile Solar Roof Update

[dhanson865]

I just redid the calculation on my house and for me the net cost is positive to the tune of $10,000 or so over 30 years. As in Solar PV isn't a good deal in my state because my electricity costs are so low.

Gross cost was cheapest at 0% solar
Net cost was cheapest at 10% solar
Best bang for the buck was at 20% solar (slightly higher net cost but not enough to stop me from bumping it above 10%)
30%, 40%, 50% got progressively worse net cost using their estimates.

 

[Rockster]

How/why would a roof need to replaced every 7 years?

Hail.

In north Texas, expect a new asphalt roof (and another $3000 - $4000 deductible) every 7 to 10 years.

 

[jddssc121]

tldr;

Solar Roof is a luxury product that people will buy because it is fun technology that looks nice, not because it will save them $.

There seems to have been an expectation that Solar Roof would be on par with asphalt shingles on cost, but I never thought that was even in the realm of possibility.

if you need a new roof soon, then this solar roof makes sense. If your roof is good for the foreseeable future (e.g. concrete tile roofs can last 50+ years) then the solar roof is a huge premium over keeping your existing roof and just adding panels.


Here's the math for our house (we already have panels, I was just curious)



new roof for our home = $35K
new roof + traditional panels = $60K
new Tesla solar roof = $38K




so assuming you need a new roof anyhow, this is a no brainer even before the energy savings, and even if you don't plan on staying in the home that long.



after the 30% tax credit expires, it is more complicated. You need to hang around long enough to recoup the energy savings. (again, just capital costs below, no energy savings accounted for)


new roof for our home = $35K
new roof + traditional panels = $70K
new Tesla solar roof = $55K

 

[nativewolf]

Hail.

In north Texas, expect a new asphalt roof (and another $3000 - $4000 deductible) every 7 to 10 years.

I see, they don't use metal roofs or does the metal get too badly damaged?

 

[boaterva]

I was also trying to get a comparison to the new(er) Solar Panels from Tesla, but that page only has 'custom quote' which now works. Was blowing up on an Ajax error earlier today. I think the load on all the marketing servers at Tesla was off the charts for a while.

 

[oktane]

This will never pencil out financially. It's purely a cool/luxury item. I'd get it for bragging rights and because I like tech, but that's it. I'm having a tough time deciding between getting this roof and a loaded AMG GTR though.....glad my deposit is refundable.

 

[Reciprocity]

if you need a new roof soon, then this solar roof makes sense. If your roof is good for the foreseeable future (e.g. concrete tile roofs can last 50+ years) then the solar roof is a huge premium over keeping your existing roof and just adding panels.


Here's the math for our house (we already have panels, I was just curious)



new roof for our home = $35K
new roof + traditional panels = $60K
new Tesla solar roof = $38K




so assuming you need a new roof anyhow, this is a no brainer even before the energy savings, and even if you don't plan on staying in the home that long.



after the 30% tax credit expires, it is more complicated. You need to hang around long enough to recoup the energy savings. (again, just capital costs below, no energy savings accounted for)


new roof for our home = $35K
new roof + traditional panels = $70K
new Tesla solar roof = $55K

Something I see left off of all these guesstimates is the value solar adds to the roof vs the amount a solar slate/tile roof adds to a house. What I find is that its a no brainer to do Tesla solar roof if you need a new tile or slate roof. If you have asphalt, you need to dig deeper to see if the value added offsets the cost. The value of your home will go up but the value of a traditional roof will degrade over the life of the roof. In this case, if the roof really will last to infinity and beyond (tm), then it will actually appreciate as your home value appreciates. Both solutions add value from the solar, but that value diminishes equally for both solutions as the solar panels/tiles age. But if you put a new Tesla tile roof, the actual roof part could actually appreciate in value after 30+ years. Meaning your home will go up in value over 30 years and so will the roof because inevitably roofs will get more expensive and if its truly is a infinite roof, it could more then double in that time.

Edit: You really need to also look at your neighborhood. You dont want to have an $80,000 house with a $50,000 roof on it. You wont get that money back out when you sell it because no one will want to pay $130,000 for a house in an $80k neighborhood. You have to right size your solution based on what the market will support.

 

[KidDoc]

Does anyone get different results every time they put numbers in the calculator? It is like it is a random number generator or something.

 

[D-egg-O]

tldr;

Solar Roof is a luxury product that people will buy because it is fun technology that looks nice, not because it will save them $.

There seems to have been an expectation that Solar Roof would be on par with asphalt shingles on cost, but I never thought that was even in the realm of possibility.

100% agree. Though I was still surprised over 30 years the solar roof won't pay for itself. This just made my decision to go with a conventional solar system easier.

 

[oktane]

Does anyone get different results every time they put numbers in the calculator? It is like it is a random number generator or something.

Keep refreshing until you get it to a price you like then click "Buy It Now".

 

[D-egg-O]

Two very different cost estimates. First one just populated everything from Google sunroof.



Second one asked me for the square footage of my home and number of stories.



I think there's some experimenting going on with the website.

 

[Rockster]

I see, they don't use metal roofs or does the metal get too badly damaged?

I'm guessing that metal roofs would dent badly with the golf ball to softball-sized hail we get here. Plus, asphalt is so cheap here, and so fast to install cheaply, that even with the hailstorms asphalt is the clear winner.

 

[jddssc121]

Something I see left off of all these guesstimates is the value solar adds to the roof vs the amount a solar slate/tile roof adds to a house.

Ya i was just trying to keep it simple and show *if* you need a new roof anyhow, then buying the Tesla roof is a no brainer on it's own, even before energy savings, avoided depreciation, better longevity, blah blah,

 

[mhan00]

Yes, I know... but it was stated all along that the roof would be cheaper than 'a replacement roof' (never saying if any of the tiles were 'excluded' because asphalt shingles are too cheap); and, recently it was stated it would be cheaper even without the power savings. All of which is a bit too much of a stretch.

Asphalt shingles were excluded by common sense. Shingles cost nothing to manufacture, and they're simple to install. There was no possible way solar tiles, which are no doubt far more complicated to manufacture and install, could come close to being cheaper than shingles without the power savings.

Tesla also needs to figure out a better pricing estimator. When I plugged in my address yesterday, the cost given was around 60k. Today, when I had to plug in my square footage and number of stories in my house, I got 35k, which would actually be fairly close to the 7.5k for a new shingle roof and the 20k (minus the 30 percent tax credit) I paid for my solar system. I don't know how smoothly the sales process is going to go if they're going to be selling these systems in store if they're basing quotes on their estimator. If they don't send a guy out to take precise measurements and account for roof shape and possible obstructions/obstacles then there could be some major fluctuations in quote price once they take final measurements. I'm very curious as to what their sales process is going to be like now that they've apparently decided to eliminate the door to door selling.

 

[30seconds]

My house in Texas came to $200,000 before rebates. That is with 4 PW and no net metering. My house is currently valued at $445k and I am not wealthy so there is no logical way to justify a roof that costs 50% of the house cost. The prices need to drop significantly if the Tesla tile roof is going to be successful IMO.

4PWs? How big is your house and how large is your current electricity use?

 

[KidDoc]

4PWs? How big is your house and how large is your current electricity use?

3500 SQ feet single story. I don't know my kw/h right now per month but my utility bill (electric + water + sewage + random fees) is $250-800 a month. I do have a MOdel S, pool, and a son that runs a server + other computers all the time so we are high energy users. Also in my town we have a pretty high rate for electricity in Texas since we have no option other than the city as a provider. It is $0.14 per kwh.

 

[boaterva]

Does anyone get different results every time they put numbers in the calculator? It is like it is a random number generator or something.

Part of that may be that if it uses Google Sunroof for the 'roof solar data', it will prompt you for all the numbers if it can't reach the site (because of overload perhaps).

My address isn't in Sunroof yet, so I always get the prompts.

 

[BigMskiman]

Haha no... I believe you are wrong...

I have highlighted the areas of the tiles which are under pressure from the hailstone. The widths are identical.
As you can see, the SR Tile has a much smaller area in which to dissipate the energy and therefore has a greater chance of breaking.
Think of a force being directed at a wire vs sheet steel of the same thickness - the one with the smaller area will break first

They are supported the same - the rails are the same distance apart, all other supports are irrelevant


View attachment 226466

I made a 14" x 8.25" x 0.5" glass tile model with both boundary conditions, Longitudinal (as-in Traditional movie), and Lateral
(as-in Tesla solar movie). I assumed the frame supports are 1" wide, so the span is 6.25" (the inside edge is what matters).

Stress at the load point is the same, but the greater "distributed load bearing" in the "Traditional tile test" helps, rather than hinders, the impact robustness. Stress contour plots show how Tesla tested "Laterally" is not best case, it's worst case.

This agrees mostly with @cizUK

 

[Eclectic]

Something I see left off of all these guesstimates is the value solar adds to the roof vs the amount a solar slate/tile roof adds to a house. What I find is that its a no brainer to do Tesla solar roof if you need a new tile or slate roof. If you have asphalt, you need to dig deeper to see if the value added offsets the cost. The value of your home will go up but the value of a traditional roof will degrade over the life of the roof. In this case, if the roof really will last to infinity and beyond (tm), then it will actually appreciate as your home value appreciates. Both solutions add value from the solar, but that value diminishes equally for both solutions as the solar panels/tiles age. But if you put a new Tesla tile roof, the actual roof part could actually appreciate in value after 30+ years. Meaning your home will go up in value over 30 years and so will the roof because inevitably roofs will get more expensive and if its truly is a infinite roof, it could more then double in that time.

Edit: You really need to also look at your neighborhood. You dont want to have an $80,000 house with a $50,000 roof on it. You wont get that money back out when you sell it because no one will want to pay $130,000 for a house in an $80k neighborhood. You have to right size your solution based on what the market will support.

When the details on the tile warranty come out I bet you'll find that there are some many conditions, exceptions and exclusions as to make the warranty pretty much no different from what you'd get with any other roofing tile. It would be a mistake to assume that the tiles are going to add value over time, if at all.

 

[Reciprocity]

When the details on the tile warranty come out I bet you'll find that there are some many conditions, exceptions and exclusions as to make the warranty pretty much no different from what you'd get with any other roofing tile. It would be a mistake to assume that the tiles are going to add value over time, if at all.

Its clear Tesla tiles are more durable then other tiles so lets say the warranty does make it similar, which will survive larger hail and which will not need your insurance company require you to pay your deductible to replace and which might actually be there in 50 years and not rotted, shattered or shelled? Infinity is a bold statement but im fine with infinity if a tree doesnt fall on it or any other rare natural disaster. The roof itself wont go up in value, the cost to replace it will. This will give it an inherent value that say an asphalt roof will not benefit from. Less so for a Spanish tile roof because they can last a very long time as well.