Energy
How much will a Tesla Solar Roof cost on my home?
Updated May 10, 2017: Tesla has provided an online calculator that attempts to compute the cost of a Tesla Solar Roof based on a home’s approximated square foot and number of stories. Single story homes are presumed to have double the roof surface area than a 2-story home with the same interior space. Here are some estimates on how much a Tesla Solar Roof will cost depending on the size of the home:
- 1.500 square feet (1 story) – $55,600
- 1,500 square feet (2 story) – $29,500
- 2.000 square feet (1 story) – $72,700
- 2,000 square feet (2 story) – $38,300
- 3,000 square feet (1 story) – $55,600
- 3,000 square feet (2 story) – $106,600
- 5,000 square feet (1 story) – $155,300
- 5,000 square feet (2 story) – $89,700
Solar Roof costs outlined are based on 60% solar coverage and does not take into account value of energy produced from the roof tiles themselves. The cost also does not factor in any local solar tax credits which varies by region.
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Originally published post below:
Tesla’s new Solar Roof tiles are the hot topic of conversation right now. At the official reveal event, Elon Musk asked rhetorically, “So, why would you buy anything else?” In a new analysis, Consumer Reports (CR) tries to answer that question.
In the absence of pricing information from Tesla, Consumer Reports decided to make some assumptions of its own. People may quibble with them, but they at least establish a baseline that can be used to begin the discussion.
CR reached out to some knowledgeable roofing sources such as the Slate Roofing Contractors Association, the Tile Roofing Institute, and the folks behind the Remodeling 2016 Cost vs. Value Report. Assuming a typical roof size in the US of 3,000 square feet, it determined the average cost of a clay tile roof is $16,000, an asphalt shingle roof is $20,000 and a slate roof is $45,000.
CR then assumed the average annual utility bill for that typical home is $2,000. Multiplying that by the 30 year life span Tesla says customers can expect from their Solar Roof, that comes out to $60,000. Consumer Reports then backed out the $6,500 assumed cost of installing a Tesla Powerwall 2 from the projected cost of electricity and declared that a Tesla glass tile roof would have to cost no more than $73,500 in order to compete successfully with a normal asphalt shingle roof.
Note that in these calculations, the customer is expected to pay for 30 years of electricity up front. CR makes no adjustment for what the costs of financing that amount immediately might amount to over that same 30 year period. The analysis also does not factor in the location of the home, the angle of the roof, or its orientation toward the sun. Clearly, a roof in southern California will generate more electricity over its useful life than a roof in the northeast.
The team at CR also assume the combination of a solar roof and a Powerwall system will supply all of a home’s energy needs without the need to draw (and pay for) additional power from the grid. Finally, no allowance is made for the monthly fees many utility companies assess to homeowners who have residential solar systems. The industry position is that rooftop solar places an undue burden on the utility grid and forces the bills of other customers to increase.
Elon said last Friday the Tesla Solar Roof tiles will “look better than a normal roof, generate electricity, last longer, have better insulation, and actually have an installed cost that is less than a normal roof plus the cost of electricity.”
He is absolutely right about the aesthetics.” People like the idea of being energy efficient, but solar panels can be an eyesore,” says Giovanni Bozzolo, a partner at Roof4Less roofing in Seattle, Wash. “To be able to combine the energy savings with aesthetics would be a very big thing in the industry. But the pricing has to be right.”
So, will the pricing be right? After Consumer Reports checked all its sources, made all its assumptions, and crunched all its numbers, it said in order to be competitive, a Tuscan tile roof needs to cost less than $69,500 ($2,300 per 100 square foot). A smooth or textured tile roof needs to cost less than $73,500 ($2,450 per 100 square feet). A slate tile roof needs to cost less than $98,500 ($3,300 per 100 square feet).
Two important factors we don’t know are the cost of installation for a Solar Roof or the skill level installers will need. “Roofers aren’t electricians and vice versa, so I’m most interested in seeing how the costs of labor affect the end price to consumers,” says Vikram Aggarwal, CEO of EnergySage, an online marketplace of solar installers.
Elon Musk is right about one thing. The Solar Roof products we saw at Universal Studios last week are drop dead gorgeous. Any home owner would love to have one. The question is, will they be a luxury item, like a Tesla Model S, or affordable to a broad range of homeowners, like a Model 3? The answer is, no one knows. Asked for comment, a Tesla spokesperson told Consumer Reports, “We haven’t released details on pricing.”
Elon Musk
Google just picked SpaceX for its first step into orbital AI
Google will launch its first Project Suncatcher AI satellite on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare next week.
Google is about to put its own AI chips into orbit for the first time, and it is paying SpaceX to get them there.
The company said Thursday that the first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher, its research effort to find out whether space can host large-scale AI computing, will fly next week on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission.
The satellite, called MVP, is about the size of a refrigerator and carries four of Google’s Tensor Processing Units, the same chips Google runs in its ground data centers. Google originally planned to launch two custom satellites in 2027, but chose to move faster by integrating its chips into a satellite.
MVP’s solar panels supply about one kilowatt of power, and Google will run Gemini models on the TPUs only in bursts of roughly 15 minutes before the chips shut down so the radiators can shed heat. In a blog post, Google said its Trillium TPUs survived vibration testing that mimicked sustained launch loads of up to 10g, with individual components seeing 50 to 100g, and handled a radiation dose greater than a five year mission would deliver.
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Next week’s flight, slated for October 1, follows a relationship that became public in May, when Teslarati reported that Google was in talks with SpaceX for a launch deal tied to orbital data centers. Google also holds a stake of roughly 6% in SpaceX.
The two companies are chasing the same idea from very different starting points. SpaceX’s own orbital compute program is built around the AI1 satellite, a roughly 70 meter structure derived from Starlink V3 hardware that is designed for 150 kW of peak compute, about 150 times the power MVP will draw. Elon Musk has brushed off concerns about crowding orbit with those satellites, and SpaceX is building its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, to produce them, targeting an annualized rate of about 1 GW of space compute by the end of 2027.
Musk also posted on X on Thursday that “the amount of compute in space will obviously round up to 100% of all compute.”
Google has been more cautious in public. Its research estimates that launch prices need to fall below about $200 per kilogram before an orbital data center can compete with a ground facility on energy cost, a threshold the company believes could be reached around the mid 2030s. The Suncatcher team has said it expects the effort to remain a project rather than a product for years, which leaves the first real test of its hardware riding on a rocket from the company with the most aggressive timeline in the field.
Energy
Tesla Semi factory is getting a celebration nobody expected
Tesla will inaugurate its Nevada Semi factory September 24, five months after production quietly began ramping.
Tesla says it will officially inaugurate its new Semi factory in Nevada next month. The Tesla Semi account posted the announcement on X, sharing a graphic titled “Semi Rollout” with a date of September 24. No further details were given about the format of the event or who would attend.
While Tesla’s dedicated Semi plant in Sparks, adjacent to Gigafactory Nevada, opened back in April, with the first trucks rolling off the high volume line on April 29, the timing for the factory inauguration comes at a surprise. The ribbon cutting event five months into production is a break from how Tesla has usually handled its other factories, where the first truck or car off the line typically served as the milestone moment.
Inauguration of new Semi factory in Nevada next month pic.twitter.com/a8kAlxrOOn
— Tesla Semi (@tesla_semi) August 24, 2026
The 1.7 million square foot factory was built as part of a $3.6 billion expansion Tesla announced in early 2023, and it shares a site with the battery cell lines that feed the Semi’s structural pack, a decision meant to remove the supply bottleneck that delayed the truck for years. The plant is designed for 50,000 trucks a year at full ramp. Semi program director Dan Priestley has said production “is now ramping” rather than claiming it has reached scale.
Nine years passed between the Semi’s 2017 unveiling and this stage of production, with the truck slipping from an original 2019 target through hand built pilot units for PepsiCo and a slow build out of the Nevada plant. An inauguration event now gives Tesla a stage to talk up that ramp and reset expectations for how many trucks it can begin delivering at scale.
The September date also lines up with the Semi’s next milestone. Tesla confirmed the truck is heading to Europe with a full unveiling at the IAA Transportation trade show in Hannover, Germany, running September 15 through 20. Between the Nevada event and the Hannover reveal, Tesla has roughly a week and a half in September to make the case that the Semi is now a truck being built and sold on two continents rather than tested in a handful of fleets.
Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.
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