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You may have seen one of the manufactures out this week headlined something similar "Tesla's solar roof is cheaper than a normal roof," that went on to claim that Tesla'south baseline $21.85 per square foot toll is 20 percentage less than a "normal" roof — fifty-fifty before yous business relationship for the electricity savings. Every bit someone who owns a house that needs a new roof, this got my attention for two reasons. Starting time, I'd dearest to extend our solar panels to cover our entire roof, so if I could save coin at the same time, what a deal! 2d, the comparison didn't sound right. Asphalt roofs are relatively inexpensive, oftentimes under $10 per foursquare foot all in.

No, the Tesla Solar Roof Isn't a Gratuitous Lunch

Earthworks through the stories to notice the original source of the comparison, it is a Consumer Reports article that is actually quite clear in its analysis. For its benchmark 3,000-square-pes roof (most average for the United states of america), information technology lists price estimates of $16,000 for clay tile, $20,000 for asphalt, and $45,000 for slate. They guessed that Tesla might price effectually $seventy,000 (actual pricing turns out to be a fleck less, so maybe $65,000). In raw terms that puts the Tesla roof at a solid multiple of the cost for whatever typical material — fifty-fifty slate — if yous don't cistron in the electricity savings.

Tesla Solar Roof

Yous tin get a ballpark estimate for the cost and savings your new roof will generate past simply typing your street address into Tesla'southward Solar Roof calculator. You lot'll likely run into that the upfront outlay (assuming you choose the Cash choice) will be substantially larger than for a traditional roof — fifty-fifty factoring in the tax credit. However, at least if you lot are in an area that gets good sun much of the year, the calculator volition give you some rosy numbers for the amount returned in energy savings over the next 30 years. Tesla uses a simplified interface to Google's Projection Sunroof, so y'all might also desire to caput directly to the Google site  to play with various assumptions like loan interest rates and internet present value calculations for your potential savings.

Of class the other unknown is most the product and installation, since this is new technology and a new line of business for Tesla. If yous have the cash or are willing to finance the installation and allow it pay back over time the numbers look smashing. Merely personally I'yard waiting until some early adopters actually go through the process and write virtually their experiences earlier I take the plunge.

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