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Tesla's Solar Roof Pricing Is Cheap Enough to Catch Fire
Tesla Inc. has begun taking $1,000 deposits for its remarkable solar roof tiles—to be delivered this summer at a price point that could expand the U.S. solar market.
Tesla will begin with production of two of the four styles it unveiled in October: a smooth glass and a textured glass tile. 1 Roofing a 2,000 square-foot home in New York state—with 40 percent coverage of active solar tiles and battery backup for night-time use—would cost about $50,000 after federal tax credits and generate $64,000 in energy over 30 years, according to Tesla's website calculator.
That's more expensive upfront than a typical roof, but less expensive than a typical roof with traditional solar and back-up batteries. The warranty is for the lifetime of your home.
"The pricing is better than I expected, better than everyone expected," said Hugh Bromley, a solar analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance who had been skeptical about the potential market impact of the new product. Tesla's cost for active solar tiles is about $42 per square foot, "significantly below" BNEF's prior estimate of $68 per square foot, Bromley said. Inactive tiles will cost $11 per square foot.
Also: Elon Musk has discovered a new passion in life — and it could be Tesla's best product yet
(Score: 4, Interesting) by bradley13 on Sunday May 14 2017, @07:17AM (17 children)
Forgot to tie my earlier comment into Tesla... The point here is that Tesla received massive government subsidies. And look at the numbers:
would cost about $50,000 after federal tax credits and generate $64,000 in energy over 30 years
So the production is subsidized, the installation is subsidized, and even then the solar cells take 30 years to break even - assuming no maintenance costs (like replacing batteries) during those 30 years.
The numbers just do not add up.
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday May 14 2017, @08:12AM (1 child)
You're paying to subsidize the F-35. Let's hope we get more addicted to opiates before then, this is becoming rather convoluted and annoying. Buy our shit! It's for the environment, not for climate change!
Oh, but that's okay with you all, because I'm Peter Thiel, a gay.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @04:52PM
A gay what?
(Score: 3, Informative) by butthurt on Sunday May 14 2017, @10:09AM (1 child)
> The numbers just do not add up.
These shingles take the place of conventional roofing material, so there would be some saving because of that. According to the story, the figures are for New York. They would differ for places with different insolation. In Arizona, for example, it would harvest more energy.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Monday May 15 2017, @12:56AM
The price of electricity is another thing varies from place to place, and I imagine that the price for the system may vary too.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by stormreaver on Sunday May 14 2017, @11:13AM (8 children)
The numbers just do not add up.
I went to Tesla's site to run its estimator on my house. It projected that I would save about $2 a month (yes, two dollars) over my current utilities for 30 years (assuming no repairs or other infrastructure costs were required during that time). Even with regular price increases in utilities, I most likely would end up paying less by sticking with the utility company than with a Tesla roof.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @12:07PM
It would also be cheaper to remove SO2 scrubbing from power plants, catalytic converters from cars and let nuke plants deposit spent fuel in streams. Think what you could buy with those sweet $2/month savings... mmm!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @12:43PM (2 children)
You seem to have left out a pretty big cost in your cost comparison: Paying for a regular roof.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Sunday May 14 2017, @08:13PM (1 child)
It's negligable. The cost of materials for asphalt shingles, roll roofing, or corrugated sheet metal is $3 per sq-ft. or less.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @10:14PM
Nobody in a position to purchase solar panels would be using either of the later two.
Furthermore that ignores installation costs.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Sunday May 14 2017, @03:35PM (2 children)
The cult of Elon Musk strikes again. People act like that guy is Christ himself walking on water.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:25PM
But he can walk on government subsidies! :P
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:32PM
No man... He's walkin' on the sun [youtube.com]
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:39PM
Another benefit is independence and redundancy.
Great when the "big shake" comes for places like California or the utilities thought maintenance is just a cost.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @12:57PM (2 children)
So the production is subsidized, the installation is subsidized,
Unlike coal and natgas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @05:31PM (1 child)
Explain how gas is subsidized. There is a BS claim floating around that it is a subsidy when gas companies deduct normal expenses when reporting income. This is not a subsidy . The government does not give significant money to fossil fuel suppliers. They do give money for solar installations and often mandate net metering which is another subsidy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 14 2017, @10:17PM
https://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/subsidy/ [eia.gov]
And that doesn't even begin to include the social cost of pollution - asthma, acid rain, cancer, etc, much less the social cost of global warming.
(Score: 2) by SunTzuWarmaster on Monday May 15 2017, @04:42PM
1 - Roof-No-Solar. $24K in costs. $50K in energy costs. Total is $74K.
2 - Roof-And-Solar*. $24K in roofing costs. $7.5K in energy costs (cost of panel installation). $3K in connected-to-the-grid costs. $4K in remove/replace panel costs (paid when you get a new roof). $39K in total.
3- Solar Roof. $50K in costs. $0K in energy costs.
Note - I apparently have chosen the most cost-effective option (yay me!), but I am still connected to the energy grid. There are some benefits to being off-grid (and having a giant skylight!). That said, if you are getting a new roof, you should seriously consider getting a solar one (especially if it is warrantied). That said, the point is for the roof to be 'free' because it paid for itself with generated energy. You were going to have to pay for both a roof and the energy.