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Which style of Tesla’s Solar Roof tile is right for you?
With the explicit goal of making solar panels as appealing as electric cars have become, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has unveiled the company’s newest product: solar roof tiles manufactured with durable, long lasting tempered-glass. The slogan, “Power from above, beauty from the street” captured the product and theme of the unveiling, which took place at Universal Studios in Los Angeles with the sun ready to set in the background.
The new roofs will be a collaboration between SolarCity and Tesla and can be combined with Tesla’s Powerwall 2 home battery. The tiles are hydrographically printed. Musk explained that this process that makes each one a “special snowflake.”
Throughout the product unveiling, Musk emphasized that these solar tiles, which will be integrated into the roof and invisible when viewed from the street, offer a much more attractive option as compared with currently-used solar technology. The tiles will be soon available to the public in four distinct styles. Each is architecturally significant to a home’s core design. Four distinct tile styles reinforce the importance of connecting an architectural past to the Tesla vision of a sustainable future. The “beautiful, affordable, and seamlessly integrated” glass tiles have significant historic origins and contemporary appeal.
Tuscan Glass Tile
This roof, sometimes called Italian Renaissance style, is an element of a home integrated with its setting. Consistent with Musk’s vision of sustainable solutions to a “mine-and-burn” hydrocarbon economy, landscape architecture and gardens balance Tuscan house design. The roof structure is a combination of side gable, cross gable, combined hip and gable, or hipped configuration, often with projecting wings and deep roof overhangs and eaves. The style borrows details from the entire history of Spanish architecture, with architectural elements of paired French doors, classic arches, and some use of wrought iron.
Slate Glass Tile
The most desirable roofing material for more than 1,000 years, slate has been acclaimed for its elegance and unique character. It required a craft person’s expertise and skill in hand shaping and laying it on the roof. The Tesla version likely will resemble thin tiles split into uniform thicknesses. Slate’s aesthetic appearance is due to a wide variety of rich colors and textures that are combined in nearly endless combinations. Found on virtually every class of structure, slate roofs are perhaps most often associated with institutional, ecclesiastical, and government buildings, yet slate was often used on farm and agricultural buildings as well.
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- Credit: Tesla
Textured Glass Tile
Textured roofing tiles were used in Neolithic China as early as 10.000 B.C. and 5000 years ago in Babylon. By the end of the nineteenth century, as the use of glazed roofing tiles grew, textured tiles became among the most ornamental and distinctive roofing materials. Now featured on many historic buildings, their aesthetic qualities include many shapes, colors, patterns, and textures. Architecturally, a field of textured tiles often covers the majority of a roof’s flat surface, with decorative tiles used along the peak of the roof. In more ornamental installations, the field of tiles may have areas of patterning created by tiles of different shapes, dimensions, or color variations ranging from deep browns to pale pinks to buff or beige. Their interesting appearance has often made textured tile roofs prominent stylistic features of historic structures.
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- Credit: Tesla
Smooth Glass Tile
Flat smooth tile offers clean lines that compliment a contemporary design with unassuming, no-frills elegance. It contains a straightforward, stripped-down geometry and a means of securing an organic bond between old, existing architecture and new buildings. This is particularly important in optically sensitive areas where contemporary architecture accentuates an important visual impression. All parts of the resultant ensemble stem from a single smooth tile source, which appears as if it grew up over the centuries. Smooth glass tiles can contribute to an eclectic conglomeration of heritage-listed façades and modern stylistic elements. Optically robust, these tiles now provide an interplay of nuances that was once typical of hand-crafted products.
Tying Architecture and Aesthetics to Energy Power Solutions
The Tesla solar roof tiles offer high efficiency solar power which will produce energy even during high temperature days. Color louver film allows cells to blend into the roof while exposing them to the sun above. With tempered glass, the material is extremely impact resistant. The solar integrates with Tesla home batteries to collect energy during the day for use in the evening once the sun goes down. Musk tweeted that “solar glass tiles can also incorporate heating elements, like rear defroster on a car, to clear roof of snow and keep generating energy.”
Tesla expects to start installing the solar roofs next summer. More durable than normal roofing tiles, the solar roofs can be tied to the updated Powerwall 2 home battery (14 kWh, $5500) which the company also showcased at the unveiling event.
The announcement of this solar innovation implies that the Tesla/ SolarCity merger will receive upcoming shareholder votes and approval.
If you’re considering solar for your home or business, we encourage you to get a solar cost estimate first, based on your monthly utility bill and location. The service is being provided by an affiliate partner and fan to Teslarati.
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Tesla confirms that it finally solved its 4680 battery’s dry cathode process
The suggests the company has finally resolved one of the most challenging aspects of its next-generation battery cells.
Tesla has confirmed that it is now producing both the anode and cathode of its 4680 battery cells using a dry-electrode process, marking a key breakthrough in a technology the company has been working to industrialize for years.
The update, disclosed in Tesla’s Q4 and FY 2025 update letter, suggests the company has finally resolved one of the most challenging aspects of its next-generation battery cells.
Dry cathode 4680 cells
In its Q4 and FY 2025 update letter, Tesla stated that it is now producing 4680 cells whose anode and cathode were produced during the dry electrode process. The confirmation addresses long-standing questions around whether Tesla could bring its dry cathode process into sustained production.
The disclosure was highlighted on X by Bonne Eggleston, Tesla’s Vice President of 4680 batteries, who wrote that “both electrodes use our dry process.”
Tesla first introduced the dry-electrode concept during its Battery Day presentation in 2020, pitching it as a way to simplify production, reduce factory footprint, lower costs, and improve energy density. While Tesla has been producing 4680 cells for some time, the company had previously relied on more conventional approaches for parts of the process, leading to questions about whether a full dry-electrode process could even be achieved.
4680 packs for Model Y
Tesla also revealed in its Q4 and FY 2025 Update Letter that it has begun producing battery packs for certain Model Y vehicles using its in-house 4680 cells. As per Tesla:
“We have begun to produce battery packs for certain Model Ys with our 4680 cells, unlocking an additional vector of supply to help navigate increasingly complex supply chain challenges caused by trade barriers and tariff risks.”
The timing is notable. With Tesla preparing to wind down Model S and Model X production, the Model Y and Model 3 are expected to account for an even larger share of the company’s vehicle output. Ensuring that the Model Y can be equipped with domestically produced 4680 battery packs gives Tesla greater flexibility to maintain production volumes in the United States, even as global battery supply chains face increasing complexity.
Elon Musk
Tesla Giga Texas to feature massive Optimus V4 production line
This suggests that while the first Optimus line will be set up in the Fremont Factory, the real ramp of Optimus’ production will happen in Giga Texas.
Tesla will build Optimus 4 in Giga Texas, and its production line will be massive. This was, at least, as per recent comments by CEO Elon Musk on social media platform X.
Optimus 4 production
In response to a post on X which expressed surprise that Optimus will be produced in California, Musk stated that “Optimus 4 will be built in Texas at much higher volume.” This suggests that while the first Optimus line will be set up in the Fremont Factory, and while the line itself will be capable of producing 1 million humanoid robots per year, the real ramp of Optimus’ production will happen in Giga Texas.
This was not the first time that Elon Musk shared his plans for Optimus’ production at Gigafactory Texas. During the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, he stated that Giga Texas’ Optimus line will produce 10 million units of the humanoid robot per year. He did not, however, state at the time that Giga Texas would produce Optimus V4.
“So we’re going to launch on the fastest production ramp of any product of any large complex manufactured product ever, starting with building a one-million-unit production line in Fremont. And that’s Line one. And then a ten million unit per year production line here,” Musk stated.
How big Optimus could become
During Tesla’s Q4 and FY 2025 earnings call, Musk offered additional context on the potential of Optimus. While he stated that the ramp of Optimus’ production will be deliberate at first, the humanoid robot itself will have the potential to change the world.
“Optimus really will be a general-purpose robot that can learn by observing human behavior. You can demonstrate a task or verbally describe a task or show it a task. Even show it a video, it will be able to do that task. It’s going to be a very capable robot. I think long-term Optimus will have a very significant impact on the US GDP.
“It will actually move the needle on US GDP significantly. In conclusion, there are still many who doubt our ambitions for creating amazing abundance. We are confident it can be done, and we are making the right moves technologically to ensure that it does. Tesla, Inc. has never been a company to shy away from solving the hardest problems,” Musk stated.
Elon Musk
Rumored SpaceX-xAI merger gets apparent confirmation from Elon Musk
The comment follows reports that the rocket maker is weighing a transaction that could further consolidate Musk’s space and AI ventures.
Elon Musk appeared to confirm reports that SpaceX is exploring a potential merger with artificial intelligence startup xAI by responding positively to a post about the reported transaction on X.
Musk’s comment follows reports that the rocket maker is weighing a transaction that could further consolidate his space and AI ventures.
SpaceX xAI merger
As per a recent Reuters report, SpaceX has held discussions about merging with xAI, with the proposed structure potentially involving an exchange of xAI shares for SpaceX stock. The value, structure, and timing of any deal have not been finalized, and no agreement has been signed.
Musk appeared to acknowledge the report in a brief reply on X, responding “Yeah” to a post that described SpaceX as a future “Dyson Swarm company.” The comment references a Dyson Swarm, a sci-fi megastructure concept that consists of a massive network of satellites or structures that orbit a celestial body to harness its energy.
Reuters noted that two entities were formed in Nevada on January 21 to facilitate a potential transaction for the possible SpaceX-xAI merger. The discussions remain ongoing, and a transaction is not yet guaranteed, however.
AI and space infrastructure
A potential merger with xAI would align with Musk’s stated strategy of integrating artificial intelligence development with space-based systems. Musk has previously said that space-based infrastructure could support large-scale computing by leveraging continuous solar energy, an approach he has framed as economically scalable over time.
xAI already has operational ties to Musk’s other companies. The startup develops Grok, a large language model that holds a U.S. Department of Defense contract valued at up to $200 million. AI also plays a central role in SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield satellite programs, which rely on automation and machine learning for network management and national security applications.
Musk has previously consolidated his businesses through share-based transactions, including Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity in 2016 and xAI’s acquisition of X last year. Bloomberg has also claimed that Musk is considering a merger between SpaceX and Tesla in the future.
Tesla confirms that it finally solved its 4680 battery’s dry cathode process
Tesla Giga Texas to feature massive Optimus V4 production line
