Is there any competitor in the USA? The idea of roof tiles which are themselves solar panels seems sensible to me, and it's more aesthetically pleasing than putting panels on top of normal tiles.
dbt00•15m ago
No, it's an impractical idea that nobody wanted.
bjelkeman-again•4m ago
I did want it. Would have looked great on my quite old house where it is highly impractical to have conventional solar panels, as there is essentially not enough space anywhere to have more than one or two panels in the same location, and I need new tiles soon anyway.
I think it turns out it was announced too early and attempted to scale before it was ready (turns out it won't be ready at all in this iteration).
It's extremely labor intensive and costly to put stuff up on the roof, and problematic in terms of electrical connector, electrical safety, and being proprietary for mounting and roof repair. Big ass PV panels that are 2.0 x 1.0 meter in size (or larger) are so cheap now for photovoltaic ground mounts that the labor and mounting can actually cost more than the panels.
460W panels can be something like $0.25 USD per STC watt in single pallet quantities shipped as LTL freight.
Or at least if you have to use your roof, just put them on boring aluminum rail mounts on roofs which are a much more known factor for roofing repair and labor.
Assuming you're in the US 48 states there should be plenty of companies that'll take your money for a factory sealed pallet load of panels. They come wrapped up from the factory, basically all they do is do the invoicing/billing to you, they buy them by the 40' or 45' container load and then load them onto trucks at a loading dock.
PV panel factory datasheets will clearly specify how many are on a pallet and how many pallets fit in a single container.
The advantage is that you don't have to drill additional holes into your roof, nor do you have to have shingles under the solar panels.
Depending on where you live and how much you pay in taxes, they may be enticing.
sorenjan•6m ago
Jackery Solar Roof.
Vaslo•5m ago
Clearly it’s very expensive and people aren’t paying for it.
elzbardico•16m ago
It was incredibly badly engineered product, sold in a stupid way.
Gee101•7m ago
Why was it badly engineered?
Zigurd•12m ago
Optimus robots will arrive in Robo taxis to install your Tesla solar roof which will also receive Internet and XAI LLM service from orbiting data centers. When? By the end of the year.
boredatoms•9m ago
I enjoy this style of absurdism humor
Johnyjohnson123•9m ago
Hahahaha
walrus01•6m ago
You forgot the "XAI LLM service powered by 60 gas turbines in Memphis running the grok CSAM generator"
jordanb•4m ago
But can I pay in dogecoin?
senordevnyc•3m ago
Via hyperloop
moomoo11•3m ago
they will be built in Mars Factory X and similar to Titanfall they'll be orbital striked to where they need to go
7e•8m ago
Musk’e fraudulent bailout of Solar City (and himself) reaches its conclusion.
ElProlactin•8m ago
> Tesla offloaded the hardest, least profitable part of the Solar Roof — the physical install and the customer relationship — onto small local companies, let them absorb the training and tooling costs, and then pulled the product out from under them.
I wonder how many of the companies understood this is what Tesla was doing, and recognized the risk inherent in their position.
Reubend•17m ago
dbt00•15m ago
bjelkeman-again•4m ago
I think it turns out it was announced too early and attempted to scale before it was ready (turns out it won't be ready at all in this iteration).
KeplerBoy•3m ago
https://www.prefa.at/produkt-katalog/solarsysteme/solardachp...
walrus01•13m ago
460W panels can be something like $0.25 USD per STC watt in single pallet quantities shipped as LTL freight.
Or at least if you have to use your roof, just put them on boring aluminum rail mounts on roofs which are a much more known factor for roofing repair and labor.
_JamesA_•6m ago
walrus01•4m ago
Assuming you're in the US 48 states there should be plenty of companies that'll take your money for a factory sealed pallet load of panels. They come wrapped up from the factory, basically all they do is do the invoicing/billing to you, they buy them by the 40' or 45' container load and then load them onto trucks at a loading dock.
PV panel factory datasheets will clearly specify how many are on a pallet and how many pallets fit in a single container.
readthenotes1•11m ago
The closest I know of is https://www.gaf.com/en-us/roofing-materials/residential-roof...
The advantage is that you don't have to drill additional holes into your roof, nor do you have to have shingles under the solar panels.
Depending on where you live and how much you pay in taxes, they may be enticing.
sorenjan•6m ago
Vaslo•5m ago