I have seen several companies try to make the solar roof tile idea work, and while I hope something like this becomes practical someday, I was very skeptical about Tesla’s tiles. This Electrek article provides some context.
Tesla announced the roof tiles in 2016 in a flamboyant manner that doesn’t really resonate with me. I need to see spec sheets, firm prices, products in stock at distributors, and happy customers. We never really got that with the Solar Roof tiles.
We are currently Authorized Tesla installers for the Powerwall 3, which has been a great product. Tesla has engineered, refined, and produced it with effectiveness, reliability, and economy. There are now other products that are a better match for some homes, but the Powerwalls have been a great accomplishment for Tesla.
In my opinion, the Solar Roof tiles were up against several industry and market factors:
- They offered multiple tile shapes, creating a diversity of products, which would hamper the economy of scale that I’ve seen is necessary for solar manufacturers to succeed.
- Each project was very custom, which is a struggle for a national company.
- Each home project obviously needs a building permit from a different AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction). Different AHJs follow different sets of codes for building and electrical permits and inspections. This is even a challenge for us here in our little corner of Washington State. I wouldn’t want to wrestle with these issues nationally. Our permitting system doesn’t make it easy for products like that. Local specialists handle construction best.
- The installation requires the skills and knowledge of two different trades – roofers and electricians. Here at Power Trip Energy, we’re proud that our installers are journeymen electricians with roofing and carpentry skills, but these guys are unicorns. Normal job sites and trades do not work like that, and roofers and electricians are very different people, to over-generalize. We can make it work at our scale, but I can see how this becomes another contributing factor nationally.
After 10 years of trying, I think they could not compete in terms of price or installation efficiency with a standard solar array over a standard roof. I can see that it looked cool, but there is really no reason for it. A standard array looks cool too.
Unfortunately, Tesla’s CEO has developed a reputation for not following through on many of his ambitious commitments. The accomplishments Tesla has made with EVs and Powerwalls are laudable; however, Tesla probably has not been able to do what our little company does with solar every day – install a residential solar array without batteries, at an economically sensible price for the customer, with reliable equipment, and make money (and have fun) doing it.