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Roofing industry keeps close watch on Tesla Solar Roof as production nears
The first installation of Tesla’s highly anticipated Solar Roof product is expected to take place in the coming months, bringing the company one step closer to providing a comprehensive and arguably best looking “sun-to-vehicle” system possible. As we near the inaugural installations, those in the solar industry are keeping a close watch on the impact Tesla’s roll out will have on solar demand and the entire category as a whole.
Tesla’s Solar Roof glass tiles— offered in four styles of Tuscan, Slate, Textured, and Smooth— look like regular roof tiles from ground level, but embedded with photovoltaic solar cells underneath. Tesla claims the glass tiles are more resilient than traditional roof tiles, and the company guarantees them for the lifetime of the house. Sweetening the whole deal, Tesla— with the help of SolarCity, which it merged with in November 2016— includes the labor and materials of tearing down your old roof and installing the new in the purchase of a Solar Roof.
Tesla is not the first to produce solar tiles. In 2016, Dow Chemical stopped its production of solar shingles five years after it first launched them, citing the low efficiency and high costs of their product. Other companies, such as Forward Labs, already produce such a product, but none have the visibility and ability to capture the attention of the media like Tesla and Elon Musk.
Over the past few years, the growth of demand for residential solar installations has begun to slow: consumer preferences have shifted more to community-based systems, electricity prices have plummeted due to falling natural gas and oil prices, and utility companies have begun to push back against catering to those who want to go “off-the-grid.” In an industry with few recent and dramatic product-level innovations, the excitement over residential solar systems has been cooling. According to Forbes, installation growth rates dropped from 63% per year from 2013 to 2015, to merely 16% in 2016. Some believe that Tesla’s high-visibility and loyal consumer base can reinvigorate the market. Grace Robertson, marketing manager of LightWave Solar, a solar installation company not affiliated with Tesla, said that Tesla’s movement has prompted local interest in LightWave Solar and the solar industry as a whole.
“The Solar Roof announcement generated a buzz and we got a few more phone calls than usual,” wrote Robertson in a comment to Teslarati. “It gets people excited about solar.”
But Tesla’s product is not just a replacement for solar panels: it is a replacement for solar panels and the entire roof they sit on. This comes with a hefty price tag. Tesla has advertised that the cost of the solar roof, offset by tax breaks and generation of solar energy, will be competitive with the price of a more traditional roof made with comparable materials. But these “comparable materials”— slate, glass, and terra-cotta— do not include the asphalt shingles that top over 75% of American homes. That focuses the market down to the other 25%.
According to Tesla’s Solar Roof cost calculator, the estimated cost and benefit of a solar roof is highly dependent on one’s location, typical electricity bill, and square footage of your house. For a typical residence in Massachusetts of 2,400 square feet with a $215/mo electric bill, a solar roof in which 60% of tiles are solar panels, would cost $71,600, not including the addition of a Powerwall 2 home battery storage system. Offsetting the cost is the projected $99,300 worth of energy generated by the roof over 30 years in addition to a $20,400 federal tax credit. Over those 30 years, Tesla estimates the home-owner will earn a net $41,100. Not a bad deal, although re-roofing the same house with asphalt shingles would cost only around $11,000 to $17,000. For a similar-sized house in central Iowa, the Tesla calculator recommends a covering of 50% solar tiles for the roof, with an upfront price tag of $40,500 (plus a $7,000 Powerwall 2 battery) for a net cost of $7,100 over 30 years. Not as great a deal.
For some, high property taxes and already low electricity bills make these upfront costs even less attractive. As Senior Technology Editor at Ars Technica Lee Hutchinson pointed out on Twitter: “My 2600sqft **HOUSE** only cost $200k. My property taxes would explode w/adding another 50% onto the home’s appraised value [with a solar roof].”
This is true. The economics are not yet compelling where housing and utility costs are low and property taxes are high.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 10, 2017
Hutchinson lives in Texas, and expressed the concerns of many who wish they could buy into the solar roofs, but can’t get past the sticker shock. Elon Musk replied that he understood the concern over the high prices, tweeting: “This is true. The economics are not yet compelling where housing and utility costs are low and property taxes are high.”
Robertson, from LightWave Solar, noted that while Tesla’s product is bringing renewed interest to the solar industry, she does not expect the solar roof to significantly impact the sales of more traditional solar panels due to these high upfront costs.
“Since most of our customers want the most cost-effective solar solution, we don’t expect the Solar Roof to put much of a dent in our sales of traditional solar panels,” wrote Robertson.
However, in an op-ed for the San Francisco Tribune, CEO and founder of EnergySage Vikram Aggarwal, an online solar marketplace backed by the U.S. Department of Energy, argued that the buzz around Tesla’s Solar Roof may not be too good for traditional solar installers after all. Aggarwal wrote that before the tiles are installed and tested on real people’s houses, the uncertainty around the roof’s total cost and energy production will cause consumers to delay buying the product until more information is available. In the meantime, those who have become excited about solar energy are not giving business to local solar panel installers either.
“The Tesla Solar Roof should be viewed as a well-designed luxury roofing product first — its solar production benefits are an additional benefit, but not its core offering,” wrote Aggarwal. “Until more comprehensive, transparent information about the all-in costs of the Tesla Solar Roof are made available, his revolutionary product may only take the wind out of the rest of the solar industry’s sails.”
But for those who are already willing to pay for high-end roofing materials and who are looking to re-roof in the near future, the Solar Roof could be a great addition to their house and other Tesla products.
With the high costs and slow roll-out, the Solar Roof isn’t expected to immediately revolutionize the solar industry in the US. Most people probably will not see solar shingles in their neighborhood for several years yet. What it will do is push the solar industry back into the limelight for at least a few months and encourage consumers to reimagine a home powered by the sun in a new era of fashionable renewable energy. Tesla is not the first to bring accessible solar to residential areas, but it is the first in a long time to make it cool.
News
Tesla adjusts Robotaxi safety monitor strategy in Austin with new service area
The positioning of the driver, as well as the driver’s hands being closer to the steering wheel, is more similar to what Tesla is doing in the Bay Area Robotaxi program than it is to what it has done in Austin.

Tesla has adjusted its Robotaxi safety monitor strategy in Austin after it expanded its service area in the city last week for the third time.
Tesla has been operating its Robotaxi platform in Austin since June 22. The vehicles have been operated without a driver, but Tesla has placed safety monitors in the passenger’s seat as a precaution.
The safety monitors are responsible for performing any necessary interventions and maintaining a safe and comfortable cabin for riders as they experience Tesla’s first venture into the driverless ride-sharing space.
Last week, Tesla expanded its service area in Austin for the third time, expanding it from about 90 square miles to 170 square miles. The expansion included new territory, including the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas, and several freeways.
Tesla Robotaxi geofence expansion enters Plaid Mode and includes a surprise
The freeway is an area that is uncharted territory for the Tesla Robotaxi program, and this fact alone encouraged Tesla to switch up its safety monitor positioning for the time being.
For now, they will be riding in the driver’s seat when routes require freeway travel:
Sept 1 in Austin and our Robotaxi arrived with Tesla safety driver in the driver seat, similar to the Bay area (no logo on the car). Here’s that first moment when I realized, our autonomous car was heading onto the freeway. pic.twitter.com/1QfyN2Ubzf
— Gail 🇺🇸 (@gailalfaratx) September 2, 2025
The positioning of the driver, as well as the driver’s hands being closer to the steering wheel, is more similar to what Tesla is doing in the Bay Area Robotaxi program than it is to what it has done in Austin.
This is sure to draw criticism from skeptics, but it is simply a step to keep things controlled and safe while the first Robotaxi drives take passengers on the highway with this version of the Full Self-Driving software.
This FSD version differs from the one that customers have in their own vehicles, but CEO Elon Musk has indicated something big is coming soon. FSD v14 is coming to vehicles in the near future, and Musk has said its performance is pretty incredible.
Tesla’s Elon Musk shares optimistic teaser about FSD V14: “Feels sentient”
News
Tesla has best month ever in Turkey with drastic spike in sales
Tesla managed to sell 8,730 Model Y vehicles in Turkey, outpacing almost every competitor by a substantial margin. Only one brand sold better than Tesla in August in Turkey, and it was Renault.

Tesla had its best monthly performance ever in Turkey in August, thanks to a drastic spike in sales.
Tesla saw an 86 percent bump in sales of the new Model Y in Turkey in August compared to July, dominating the market.
The performance was one of Tesla’s best in the market, and the company’s sales for the month accounted for half of all EV sales in Turkey for August, as it dominated and led BYD, which was the second-best-selling brand with just 1,639 units sold.
Tesla managed to sell 8,730 Model Y vehicles in Turkey, outpacing almost every competitor by a substantial margin. Only one brand sold better than Tesla in August in Turkey, and it was Renault.
Turkey reported 8,730 Tesla sales and 10.6% market share in August. BEV penetration is 21.3% and Tesla has 49.9% of this segment. 🇹🇷
• Market share is 558 basis points or 111% above the 3-month trailing average of 5.0%
• Tesla second best-selling brand
• Model Y best-selling… pic.twitter.com/qLhX7VQWXp— Roland Pircher (@piloly) September 2, 2025
Electric vehicles are, in some ways, more desirable than their gas counterparts in Turkey for several reasons. Most of the reasoning is financial.
First, EVs are subject to a lower Special Consumption Tax in Turkey. EVs can range from 25 percent to up to 170 percent, but this is less than the 70 to 220 percent rate that gas-powered vehicles can face. The tax is dependent on engine size.
Additionally, EVs are exempt from the annual Motor Vehicle Tax for the first ten years, providing consumers with a long-term ownership advantage. There are also credits that can amount to $30,000 in breaks, which makes them more accessible and brings down the cost of ownership.
Let’s not forget the other advantages that are felt regardless of country: cheaper fuel costs, reduced maintenance, and improved performance.
The base Model Y is the only configuration available in Turkey currently.
News
Tesla is upgrading airbag safety through a crazy software update
“This upgrade builds upon your vehicle’s superior crash protection by now using Tesla Vision to help offer some of the most cutting-edge airbag performance in the event of a frontal crash.”

Tesla is upgrading airbag safety through a crazy software update, which will utilize the company’s vision-first approach to enable better protection in the event of an accident.
Over the years, Tesla has gained an incredible reputation for prioritizing safety in its vehicles, with crash test ratings at the forefront of its engineers’ minds.
This has led to Tesla gaining numerous five-star safety ratings and awards related to safety. It is not just a statistical thing, either. In the real world, we’ve seen Teslas demonstrate some impressive examples of crash safety.
Everything from that glass roof not caving in when a tree falls on it to a Model Y surviving a drive off a cliff has been recorded.
However, Tesla is always looking to improve safety, and unlike most companies, it does not need a physical hardware update to do so. It can enhance features such as crash response and airbag performance through Over-the-Air software updates, which download automatically to the vehicle.
In Tesla’s 2025.32 Software Update, the company is rolling out a Frontal Airbag System Enhancement, which aims to use Tesla Vision, the company’s camera-based approach to self-driving, to keep occupants safe.
The release notes state (via NotaTeslaApp):
“This upgrade builds upon your vehicle’s superior crash protection by now using Tesla Vision to help offer some of the most cutting-edge airbag performance in the event of a frontal crash. Building on top of regulatory and industry crash testing, this release enables front airbags to begin to inflate and restrain occupants earlier, in a way that only Tesla’s integrated systems are capable of doing, making your car safer over time.”
The use of cameras to predict a better time to restrain occupants with seatbelts and inflate airbags prior to a collision is a fantastic way to prevent injuries and limit harm done to those in the vehicle.
The feature is currently limited to the Model Y.
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