Tesla Roof Tiles

Mike, I love the idea but don't see the Fossil Fuel Industry allowing it to fully happen. I would love to hear what the Cost per square foot will be in relation to the savings. And just how one would disconnect their home from the current grid in established neighborhoods.

One of the reasons I am so skeptical is over 20 years ago when I was a Toolmaker, we built some custom machines for processing solar panels for a company named Solarex. We worked and worked and got everything just right and they scrapped the project. Oh yeah, Guess who owned Solarex? Shell Oil, so you see the conflict. Shell could brag that they were spending money developing Solar Resources as well as Tax Write-offs for losses, all the while NEVER planning to put anything on the market.

If you see or here more details about this, please post them here.
 
I followed the launch event and the interesting part was that the cost of the tiles should not exceed the expense for regular tiles, while the solar tiles are more durable. Add a couple of Tesla wall mounted batteries and cut the umbilical cord to your utility [emoji2].


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Shadowfax said:
Mike, I love the idea but don't see the Fossil Fuel Industry allowing it to fully happen. I would love to hear what the Cost per square foot will be in relation to the savings. And just how one would disconnect their home from the current grid in established neighborhoods.

One of the reasons I am so skeptical is over 20 years ago when I was a Toolmaker, we built some custom machines for processing solar panels for a company named Solarex. We worked and worked and got everything just right and they scrapped the project. Oh yeah, Guess who owned Solarex? Shell Oil, so you see the conflict. Shell could brag that they were spending money developing Solar Resources as well as Tax Write-offs for losses, all the while NEVER planning to put anything on the market.

If you see or here more details about this, please post them here.
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Shell and BP are seeing the signs-o-the-times and have set up renewable energy units (already some time ago).


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I'd sure like to understand how what appear to be individual tiles, connect together electrically. I envision thousands of tile to tile electrical connections that will become intermittent or fail completely in time.
 
I guess that is a good question, it was not outlined in the presentation. But what would make sense is to do most of the wiring inside the glass to minimize wear and use natural mechanical connection points based on tile share to form the connection grid.

But the Tesla guys are usually rather smart, so I guess the tiles have been engineered well. At one point Elon Musk said in an interview, that people who are dismissed from Tesla because they're not smart enough, typically go to Apple :). I think we see that manifesting itself lately in all the 'removing connectors' engineering at the fruit factory.


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I've been playing with batteries to provide cleaner power to my audio system.

StromTank was recently promoting a battery option for audio, but not sure how effective it is.

Has anyone had any experience using the Tesla solar/battery systems for powering their audio components?


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Like the thought, but unfortunately no.

Talking about double whammy clean power for the audio system [emoji12].


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Yes I am interested.

However I think it is just a bit too early although Teslas offer is tempting and complete. Of course I do understand that this is the case with all technology but with solar panels (photovoltaic technology) the developments are going really rapidly now. First in this technology they have Swanson's law. This is a similar principle as Moore's law for microchips. In solar tech this means that prices are decreasing in a steady pace and at the same time efficiency is increasing.
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Also new technologies are on the verge of breaking through like solar panel spray:
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I love Tesla's proposal but I think I am going to wait just a couple of years longer....

Shadowfax said:
I love the idea but don't see the Fossil Fuel Industry allowing it to fully happen.
Click to expand...
I think green energy is more popular here in Europe and it sells. Lot's of companies and governments are jumping on it. The power of Shell and Exxon is decreasing and even they are working on alternative profit models outside fossil fuels.
 

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cmarin said:
I've been playing with batteries to provide cleaner power to my audio system.

StromTank was recently promoting a battery option for audio, but not sure how effective it is.

Has anyone had any experience using the Tesla solar/battery systems for powering their audio components?


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Really interested in this idea and wondering whether there is any difference in added noise from a solar / battery powered system vs. a grid-tied solar / battery powered system.


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These panels were installed 6 months ago by Solar City. The power that is generated by them does not directly power any circuits in the house so there is no 'benefit' to being off the grid. What they do is install a meter that actually registers power usage and power generated, which in turn offsets any power usage and lowers electricity bill.

There are tremendous State and Federal credits that are given to these companies for any installation they do. They will install these systems for literally free, and guarantee that you will save a predetermined amount of money (based on how many panels are installed and how direct the sun exposure) They cut down a 150 ft. tree and dug a 30' trench and charged me zilch. I am saving about $400.00 a month on AC.

I will be happy to answer any questions, but I am not familiar with the tiles.
 

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My concern on this "tile" is high winds. They might work in some states, besides Fla, NC and the gulf coast states as a Hurricane and high winds would remove your big old investment. I have concrete tiles on my home that weight 12 -14 lbs each depending on which tile it is and we had winds of a steady 83 for 2 hours and gust to 123 and I lost 16 tiles with Matthew and ps they were attached with stainless screws. Amazing what high winds can do.
 
TY for the welcome Mr. Inid.

As far as your tiles weighing in at such a hefty 14 lbs. ea., it is unlikely that you are going to meet the requirements, although panels like the ones I have are probably more effecient and most likely doable for you. There is the issue of cosmetics for many with the panels but that is a personal thing. I was only able to put up 12 panels on my detatched garage due to my house having all slate tiles. The slate would just crack during installation, otherwise I would have gone all out.
 
Currently (by coming news) it looks like solar energy will be widespead - almost each home, car, etc.
Of course there is not initial cost is matter. Also cost of using and life time is important.
 
Common as "batshit" in AUS...my house has had 5 kwatts of panels on the roof since 2011, have not had an AC bill since & they are cyclone (tornado) rated...already been through one...not off grid though...batteries are the next step...would go these tiles if building new...

Here is a guy who takes off grid to a whole new level...nice guy...knows LOTS about solar & running his setup on DC... http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/115789-battery-based-audiophile-beyond/...
 
We have Solar City tiles on our home. Same company as Tesla.... they told us that California requires any Solar installation be able to withstand 200 MPH winds.
 
We got our Solar City system back in 2009. The guy told us that Elon Musk was one of the people behind the project. I asked who is that? He said he was one of the founders of Paypal! Never had heard of Tesla at that time. Anyway SC was running into some finance issues because of the recession - some of their major sources of finance had collapsed. So they offered a deal to anyone who could afford to buy the system outright. We would get all the tax credits and get a relatively good deal on the system. It was about $25K net.

Fast forward to 2017. The system will be 8 years old in March. It has produced over 80,000 kWhrs in the past 8 years. Of course that is mostly during the peak cost hours of the day - currently 44 cents/KWHr (night time rates are 10-11 cents/KWhr, with the shoulder rates in between). Over the 8 years we have saved about $30,000, so sometime early last year we had saved more than the total cost of our installation, which we own free and clear.

BTW, next month will be the fourth anniversary of buying our Tesla Model S (#4360 in production). We charge it up at night. At 10-11 cents/KWhr it costs us about 3 cents per mile for the fuel, compared to 6 times as much for our similarly priced Lexus.

Given the major increase in solar panel efficiency and the drop in cost, not sure whether it is worth installing new panels to get even more energy generation or install a new roof (to power my hifi system!).

Larry (in expensive electricity SF Bay Area)
 
Thanks for sharing Larry, very interesting.


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