Energy
Tesla Solarglass Roof: LA-based homeowner shares first impressions of V3 roof tiles
As the cost of installing solar drops in the United States by as much as 70% in the last decade, more and more homeowners in the US are considering a switch to greener energy. At the forefront of Tesla’s push into residential solar is its flagship Solarglass roof, which are essentially solar cells that look like standard roofing tiles. Yet, inasmuch as Tesla’s Solarglass tiles have caught numerous headlines in the past, many questions about the product, such as its durability, installation process, and real cost, remain.
Los Angeles, California-based Austin Flack is one of the first consumers to get a Tesla Solarglass Roof. In a recent video shared on YouTube, Flack decided to share his first impressions about his Tesla Solarglass experience.
“We placed our order in early November and were scheduled for installation in mid-December, but rainy weather pushed installation into January. Unfortunately, the federal rebate fell from 30% in 2019 to 26% in 2020, but Telsa was kind enough to give us a 4% discount to make up the difference,” Flack wrote on the description of his review on YouTube.
COST OF TESLA SOLARGLASS ROOF
Prior to the announcement of Tesla about the latest version of the company’s flagship solar product in October 2019, Flack and his wife thought of getting Tesla solar panels but they discovered that their roof, which measures 1,745 sq.ft., wasn’t properly designed and installed.
The couple decided to compare the cost of getting a new composite roof plus the Tesla solar panel array they need. Estimates for the composite tile roof ranged roughly between $9,000 and $12,000. Meanwhile, Tesla calculated that their Los Angeles home would need a system size of around 9.087 kW with some room for energy needs to grow. The quote from Tesla for the Solarglass Roof is $33,749 after rebates. This price is about $3,000 more expensive than the cost of getting a composite tile roof with the equivalent solar panel array setup.
According to Flack, they went for the Solarglass Roof and found the price reasonable “given the enhanced aesthetics of solar glass and how much value it might add to our home.”
SOLARGLASS ROOF INSTALLATION
Installation of the Solarglass Roof started on Jan. 6 and took 7 days including removal of the old roof, installation of Solarglass tiles, replacement of other roofing elements, and hardware setup.
Flack shared that their new roof is mostly solar tiles with some dummy tiles for the edges and to fit near the vents and pipes. The roof was also raised by about 1.5 inches to have some space for wiring and ventilation.
From the solar tiles, Tesla neatly installed conduit boxes in their attic and directed the power to a DC inverter, shutoff switches, and 200 amp electrical box.
The couple is still waiting for the final approval to turn on the system and promised to post an update video once it’s online.
“For now, we are very happy with the Solar Glass. It’s beautiful. It’s durable. It’s guaranteed for 25 years, and when fully operational it will completely zero out our electrical bill,” Flack said.
TESLA SOLAR ENERGY BUSINESS WILL SHINE IN 2020
Tesla’s solar business had its moments under the cloud and seemingly losing its shine amid rising competition from smaller solar roof installers and lower subsidies for solar panels. With the solar business’ back on the wall, Elon Musk re-aligned and reignited Tesla’s solar push with the promise to ramp up production and aim to install more solar roofs compared to previous years. Musk showed a more cautious side and for most, that was a good thing.
“In the long term, I expect Tesla Energy to be of the same or roughly the same size as Tesla’s automotive sector or business. This is the most underappreciated group. I think it could be bigger, but it’s certainly of a similar magnitude to Tesla Solar. Meaning, if you take Tesla Solar plus battery stuff, Tesla Energy is, I think, the least appreciated element,” Musk said.
At present, Tesla offers $250-incentive for new customers and for people who will refer other buyers.
In December, Tesla also installed canopies for their solar test houses in its Fremont factory, reminiscent of how it used big tents to solve Model 3 production issues. During the same period, Tesla looked to hire more installers to beef up its teams in California, Texas, Nevada, and Florida. In Q3 of 2019, the company deployed about 43MW of solar, about 48% more compared to Q3.
Check out Austin Flack’s first impression of the Tesla Solarglass Roof below:
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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