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Tesla’s solar roof is finally cheaper and more efficient, well in the US at least

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Do you remember when Tesla first unveiled its solar roof product? It promised to cost around what you would expect to pay to replace a standard roof, and was heralded as super easy to install. Well, like most of what Elon Musk announces, the first generation of the product wasn’t exactly everything that we were expecting. Thankfully, the company is finally beginning to make good on its promises.

Tesla has finally announced the third version of its solar roof tiles, dubbed Solarglass, and it’s the first one that is expected to be mass produced, meaning they’re cheaper than ever. Admittedly, they’re not quite as cheap as simply replacing a roof with standard tiles, but it should be cheaper than replacing the roof and adding solar panels on top of that. That’s great news for those who need to replace their roof, not so great news for those just wanting solar panels.

For the average home, Tesla expects consumers to stump up around $34,000 after incentives, which is quite pricey for solar panels on top of a roof, but then again Tesla’s solar tiles are unlike any other product on the market. They’re designed to look like a standard rooftop, while efficiently harnessing the sun’s solar rays and turning that into sweet, sweet power. Also, that price is for the average American home, which, let’s admit it, is considerably larger than those in the UK. 

Tesla says that Solarglass is more efficient than its previous generations of solar roofs, while the installation process has also been considerably improved. Musk admitted that to reach this stage, the company was forced to tweak the design of the product, although it now means that the roof tiles should last for around 30 years, if not longer. 

In terms of installation, Tesla says that it is working hard to reduce the amount of time it takes to install one of its solar roofs. When it was first announced, the company estimated that installation would take around 5-7 days, although in reality it’s been more like two weeks. Now the company expects that time to be much shorter.

The quicker installation time will be largely down to the new design, which features custom fittings meaning the tiles can just slot into place. Tesla will also work with firms wishing to install Solarglass, offering a certification program.

Consumers have already reported that they could see a huge cost saving on installing the third version of Tesla’s solar roof versus the second version, with one person seeing their quote drop by 40% with the new system.

Unfortunately, UK homes will have to do without Tesla’s solar roof tiles for now. There’s no word on when they’ll be coming to the UK market, but of course we’ll let you know as soon as they do.

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