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What to expect from Tesla’s solar roof event on October 28

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Tesla Motors, Inc. has sent invitations to a product reveal on Friday, October 28, 2016 at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. The product announcement is a formality, as Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on September 22: “Aiming for Oct 28 unveil in SF Bay Area of new Tesla/SolarCity solar roof with integrated Powerwall 2.0 battery and Tesla charger.”

Tesla is in the process of buying SolarCity in a deal worth $2.6 billion. The proposed Tesla/ SolarCity merger vote goes to the shareholders on Nov. 17. Friday’s upcoming announcement offers Tesla an opportune platform as it attempts to persuade shareholders that the merger has sound financial merit. Should the two companies join into one consolidated brand, the Tesla label would prevail, according to Motley Fool, with roof systems marketed alongside vehicles and energy storage products.

How can Musk’s vision for photovoltaic units integrated into the roof itself change the industry?

Traditional rooftop solar panels are attached to roofs using metal mounting systems. But Musk’s plans for an actual roof that’s integrated with a series of solar panels is a step into a new dimension of decentralized renewable energy systems. That means that re-roofing, which is generally required about every 20 years, could migrate into a common pattern of homeowners switching to the solar roof option. While likely more expensive than a conventional roof-mounted panel, the Tesla solar roof will offer homeowners the incentives of savings in power production, endurance of the product, and overt symbolism of a sustainable lifestyle.  The latter may have a profound effect on the highly-desired millennial market.

Musk has emphasized that the new solar roof product is “a fundamental part of achieving a differentiated product strategy.” The solar roof concept incorporates Tesla’s Powerwall, with 6.4 kWh storage capacity, sufficient to power most homes during the evening using electricity generated by solar panels during the day. The Powerwall can also act as a backup electrical system in the event of a power outage. Multiple batteries may be installed together for homes with greater energy needs. The upcoming Powerwall 2.0 will simplify the process of installation and feature a charger for Tesla automobiles.

Tesla-Energy-Powerwall-Crates-Gigafactory

A typical Powerwall system includes solar panels, an inverter for converting electricity between direct current and alternating current, a meter for measuring battery charge, and, in backup applications, a secondary circuit that powers key appliances. Each element interacts with the other.

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  • Panels convert sunlight into electricity that charges Powerwall and powers the home during the day.
  • The home battery is charged with electricity generated by solar panels.
  • The inverter converts direct current electricity from solar panels, the grid, and Powerwall into the alternating current used by a home’s lights, appliances, and devices.

A Tesla/ SolarCity partnership also has the gravitas to succeed where others have failed. Research and development around building integrated solar has been underway by various companies for years, including some systems that moved into the development stage. However, cost factors as well as inefficient electricity generation have tabled many of these efforts. Recently, Dow Chemical ceased production of its solar shingles, citing a lack of sales, according to Fortune.
Among many partnerships, Tesla is now providing batteries for Swell Energy as part of its all-in-one home management energy system. It also recently announced its pledge with Panasonic to produce solar cells at a manufacturing facility in Buffalo, New York should the Tesla/ SolarCity merger reach stockholder approval.

Already, the Tesla Powerwall unit is in demand in areas where grid reliability is an issue. Recent power outages in Australia saw demand for the Powerall increase by 30x. This newest announcement comes on the heels of an October 19 frenzy of speculation about another Tesla mystery product, which turned out to be Tesla’s autonomous driving hardware.

Tune in on October 28 to see the live product unveiling via webcast on Tesla’s website or Follow Us on @Twitter to see behind the scenes action from the event.

Carolyn Fortuna is a writer and researcher with a Ph.D. in education from the University of Rhode Island. She brings a social justice perspective to environmental issues. Please follow me on Twitter and Facebook and Google+

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Elon Musk

Tesla Roadster owners to get “Flying Stunt Mode” and looping track access

Musk says Roadster owners can command the unveiling stunts autonomously, with a Texas looping track.

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Elon Musk says owners of the new Tesla Roadster will be able to ask the car to perform the stunts Tesla showed at its unveiling, with the car doing the driving itself. Musk made the comment Saturday in a reply on X to tech blogger Robert Scoble, and he added a promise of a looping track at Tesla’s Texas headquarters.

Scoble had argued that the person in the Roadster is not really driving it. In his description, the driver operates a computer that tells another computer what to do, with steering, braking and acceleration all handled by wire. Musk answered, “True. You will be able to ask the Roadster to perform any of the tricks shown autonomously, as it will be sentient. Also, we will have a wild looping track (crazier even than Hot Wheels) at our Texas HQ where you can test out your Roadster.”

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At the October 15 event outside Waco, the car drove up a curved ramp until it was upside down, flew off on cold gas thrusters, flipped and landed. It also hovered over a Cybercab, Cybertruck, Semi, Model Y and Model 3 while moving. As we noted in our breakdown of the three Roadster configurations, Musk said at the event that the car “literally is just going to puff itself up” to perform the maneuvers whenever an owner wants. Saturday’s reply adds that the car would run them on its own.

Tesla has described some of the hardware that would make that possible. The Roadster uses steer by wire with a yoke, and its cold gas thrusters rely on electric actuators for small adjustments in flight. A fan system under the car creates suction, which Tesla says is strong enough to hold it upside down, a setup we covered in our look at the Roadster’s fan system and thrusters.

Musk did not say when an autonomous stunt feature might arrive, how it would work, or what he means by sentient. He also gave no size, location or opening date for the Texas track. Production is planned for Giga Texas in 2027 or 2028, and Tesla says the car is not approved for public road use. The Rocket version, the one built to fly, is invite only.

The comment follows a week of Musk teasing the event, including his claim that the demo would be a banger, which we covered before the stream. Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, and shareholders can submit and vote on questions through the Say portal until 4 p.m. EDT on October 20, according to our earnings Q&A preview. A question about autonomous Roadster stunts and the Texas track would be a quick way to get specifics from management.

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Elon Musk

How to use Grok Bot to block spam calls and texts

Musk told users to ask Grok Bot to scrub their phone numbers from spam lists.

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Elon Musk has a new use case for Grok Bot, and it is the spam call. On Thursday he replied to an X user named Arash with a short instruction: “Ask your @Grok @Bot to remove your phone number from spam call & text lists!” Arash had said he got tired of the calls, had an AI bot find his number on listing sites and file removal requests, and packaged the process as a free skill for others.

The skill is called Spam-Call Scrubber, which is described to find a phone number on people search sites and data brokers, submits the opt outs, completes the confirmation emails those sites send back, and rechecks on a schedule the user picks. Using it requires the Grok Bot app. The pitch is time saved, since most broker opt outs sit behind separate forms on separate sites.



Musk said Grok Bot now gives each bot its own email address, and that it can detect scam emails. On Thursday he also said SpaceX would make users whole if the bot botches a purchase or leaks a card, then told users to shop away from Amazon after the retailer blocked the agent, as Teslarati reported. The terms of service we reviewed at the time put responsibility for what an agent does on the user.

For Tesla owners, Grok Bot is not just a phone app. Tesla brought Grok Bot into its vehicles on September 22, and we argued earlier this week that the Cybercab’s real advantage may be the errands it runs during a ride. Every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet has it enabled. The more routine tasks like this one become, the more a rider has reason to hand over something personal in the back seat.

The new Spam-Call Scrubber skill can be downloaded for free and works on sites that honor removal requests, while noting that listings can reappear, and illegal robocallers do not check any registry. Whether Spam-Call Scrubber cuts anyone’s call volume is something the first wave of users will find out, and Musk’s endorsement guarantees that wave is coming.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla’s flying Roadster just revealed something bigger than the car

Analysts say the Roadster demo puts a Tesla and SpaceX merger back on the table.

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Tesla’s new Roadster, upside down and trailing cold gas thruster smoke, flips over a lineup of Tesla vehicles at the Roadster unveiling near Waco, Texas on October 15, 2026. (Image: Tesla)
Tesla’s new Roadster, upside down and trailing cold gas thruster smoke, flips over a lineup of Tesla vehicles at the Roadster unveiling near Waco, Texas on October 15, 2026. (Image: Tesla)

The Roadster unveiling near Waco ended Thursday night, and by Friday morning much of the investor reaction had less to do with the car than with who owns the rocket technology inside it.

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the event “puts the Tesla/SpaceX relationship on the table in a tangible way,” pointing to the propulsion, pressure vessel and control hardware sitting on a Tesla product. Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management called the demo “a ridiculous display of engineering” with “no commercial value” beyond embarrassing traditional automakers, though he said it showed Musk wants the two companies together.

The more specific forecast came a day earlier from Barclays. Analyst Dan Levy told clients a deal could be announced before Tesla’s annual meeting, which must happen by December 6, and that an announcement in late October or early November could make shareholder approval harder. Barclays expects SpaceX to be the buyer in an all stock deal, with Tesla holders receiving SpaceX shares at a premium, based on market values of roughly $2.1 trillion for SpaceX and $1.5 trillion for Tesla. If nothing lands around the meeting, the bank still sees an announcement within 6 to 12 months.

The Roadster demo just added more weight to merger speculations. Tesla’s demo used cold gas thrusters and pressure tanks of the kind SpaceX uses on Falcon 9, and Musk described the car as a collaboration between Tesla and SpaceX engineers, as we mentioned in our breakdown of the three Roadster configurations.


Musk has not publicly addressed a deal since the event, as far as we have seen. His most direct answer remains the one he gave at the All In Summit, when he said that with so much collaboration, “who can imagine what action one might take” without ruling anything out. Ives has held to a 2027 timeline since his March note, and Musk pushed back on the China piece of the speculation when ARK floated a year end announcement in August.

The next test is Tesla’s third quarter earnings call on October 21. However, we recall in July that Musk told analysts, “we can’t talk about combining companies and that kind of thing on an earnings call,” so a clear answer wouldn’t be expected.

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