Elon Musk has something else he wants everyone to buy: solar roofs

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Elon Musk's efforts to reinvent solar ability haven't drawn as much acclaim equally the tech mogul's piece of work on electric vehicles or Mars exploration. But that could change if his latest product works as advertised. Musk has unveiled a concept for a solar roof — and aye, that's "solar roof," as opposed to a roof with solar panels on superlative of information technology.

Instead of placing individual panels on a pre-installed conventional roof, customers will be able to cull from unlike kinds of solar tiles designed to look like conventional roofing tiles. Customers tin can choose how much of their available square footage volition be PV tiles, and how much will just exist tiles, although why anyone would pay to accept these things installed without the PV capability is a question for the ages.

"The key is to make solar look good," said Musk during the production introduction. "We want you to telephone call your neighbors over and say, 'Check out this sweetness roof.'" It certainly makes sense, and then, that he did the unveil on Wisteria Lane: the backlot set of ABC's Drastic Housewives, which is as well where Leave it to Beaver was filmed. Recall that this is the guy who stipulated in his contract with Orbital Outfitters that their next-gen space suits for SpaceX had to look "badass." Beauty may or may not be skin deep in LA, only it certain does have to take curb appeal for your HOA to even consider tolerating it.

Musk doesn't intend to settle for curb appeal: "We want it to look better, final longer, provide ameliorate insulation, and cost less" than a regular slate or shingled roof with PV panels. In typically stylish but handwavey Elon Musk style, he did not provide any information well-nigh longevity, R-value, wiring, or price.

He did wave around an actual tile, though, so that anybody could see the way low-cal plays off the surface at different angles. When installed on the houses of Wisteria Lane, the tiles don't wait similar solar tiles from the street, which is accomplished by texturing the glass. This doesn't have to accept deleterious consequences for the panels. In fact, the texturing can be better for traction, which we know considering of the solar cycle path installed a couple years ago in the soggy Netherlands. Practiced news for roofers and solar panel techs alike.

In addition to the texturing, the tiles also use a cosmetic "colour louver," which is meant to assistance with the optical properties of the tiles during their camouflage routine. While it does filter out some incoming light, Musk assured attendees that the tiles get fully enough to do their piece of work.

That work would be aided by the concurrently bachelor and no doubt bundle-ready Powerwall ii, which Musk as well introduced. Here he did give some numbers. He's quoting $5,500 for fourteen kWh of storage, which (according to Tesla'due south metrics) will power a 4-bedchamber dwelling for an entire twenty-four hour period. In theory, connected to a solar roof with enough square footage, it could power the home indefinitely.

The Powerwall 2. Courtesy of Tesla

The Wisteria Lane installation was a custom bargain, done with the actual tiles on actual buildings that are outside to be rained on and covered with pollen and bird poop. At the demo they weren't up and running, which was excused as having been because they only had two weeks to get the roofs put on. Maybe I'm cynical, only I'm pretty sure they passed upwardly an opportunity to have a multimeter hooked up to the roofs. Then again, that would've meant we could summate the panels' exact efficiency equally installed on a roof Tesla and SolarCity didn't squad up to purpose-build to the theoretically optimal parameters.

There's still a smashing deal nosotros don't know about the project, including how efficient the panels are, how like shooting fish in a barrel it is to work on the installed roof, or how much information technology will cost. Tesla intends to closely integrate its ain business with that of SolarCity. It has already made an offer on the company and expects to shut its bargain in Q4 2016. Earlier this month, Tesla announced information technology would work with Panasonic to manufacture new panels and modules at the SolarCity manufactory in Buffalo, NY.

At present read: How do solar cells work?