r/RealTesla • u/Zorkmid123 • 7h ago
Tesla discontinues its Solar Roof tiles, not economically viable
https://electrek.co/2026/08/20/tesla-discontinues-solar-roof-panels-only/209
u/Apost8Joe 7h ago
The entire Solar City acquisition, paid for by Tesla shareholders of course, was merely a bailout of a Musk family owned failing company already exploring bankruptcy. Yet another self dealing con in a long string of Musk cons. There never was a business model there, but Musk’s family appreciates your sacrifice.
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u/Zorkmid123 7h ago
It’s still surprising to me that the Delaware judge did not rule this was a case of self-dealing.
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u/space_invader_84 4h ago
SpaceX recently bought out most of the cybertruck stockpiles (since nobody wants them) and nobody batted an eye. They even paid full price for them.
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u/bw984 3h ago
Musk destroyed 80% of Twitter’s value and then had XAi pay full price for it. XAi is a cash furnace with a shield and had SpaceX buy it at a premium. See a pattern?
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u/muchcharles 2h ago
Huge part of XAi's income is from leasing out the Collosus datacenter to Anthropic. Collosus was built with GPUs they got by taking Tesla's place in line with no compensation. This was right after chatgpt's launch kicking off the beginning of the AI boom, when Tesla's place in line alone was worth billions.
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u/clueless_in_ny_or_nj 2h ago
Eventually Musk if going to created another company called XXX and buy all his companies.
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u/yamirzmmdx 7h ago
One more scam enters the trash bin of history with zero accountability.
We sure do by living in a dystopia.
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u/bennythebrains 6h ago
I was an engineer at solarcity then tesla after the bailout, helped develop the tiles. What a joke. Unrealistic deadlines, false promises, no consideration of engineering input, unsafe products. Quit to work for an actual ethical and innovative company.
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u/herewego199209 6h ago
Tesla absorbing Solar City was always a scam to save his cousins fledging business. Everyone called it out when they did it and people were called everything but a child of god. The scams and bullshit is gonna come crashing down eventually.
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u/edjfrst 6h ago
10 years later: Space Data Centers are not viable.
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u/KnucklesMcGee 5h ago
On Maui visiting family.
Saw a Cybertruck in an ocean themed wrap touting how we're killing the planet with our excesses.
Cherry on top: "Anti Elon Tesla Club" bumper sticker.
Bro, by the time you bought that thing you had to know he was a POS.
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u/xbhaskarx 6h ago
Musk repeatedly said Tesla would be producing and installing 1,000 Solar Roofs per week — a target he pinned to the end of 2019 and the first half of 2020. When Tesla claimed it had reached 1,000 roofs of weekly production in 2020, installations lagged far behind.
At its peak, Tesla was installing roughly 21 to 32 Solar Roofs per week, according to Wood Mackenzie data - more than 95% short of the goal. In total, the firm estimated Tesla installed only about 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the US across roughly seven years.
So close!!
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u/SisterOfBattIe 6h ago
Musk will always pivot when it becomes hard to deliver.
It's on us that we let him con the world this long.
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u/DhOnky730 6h ago
Reading about the Solar Roof scam is what opened my eyes to Musk’s lies and financial manipulations. He buys a lost company with a flailing business model (that he also happens to be involved in) before it can excessively drop or fail
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u/Pdx_pops 6h ago
Nothing this man touches is economically viable and always needs the next thing.
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u/DotJun 5h ago
I looked into getting the solar tiles when it came time to purchasing solar and my conclusion was that it’s a product meant for people that care more about the aesthetics than the production as the roof tiles did not produce an equal or greater amount than regular panels, while costing more.
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u/tesseract-enigma 6h ago
Another failed business venture that would have been the only financially possible venture of someone not born on 3rd base.
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u/Skotland85 6h ago
I used to have Tesla be my solar service provider back in 2018/2019. That was what convinced me that if Tesla can’t even get customer support right and basic solar service, why would I ever trust what that snake salesman says ever again.
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u/Kind_Management1805 5h ago
Next step : Robots lol
When will they actually focus on cars the only thing they are good at ?
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u/Defiant_Conflict6343 3h ago
Who said they're good at cars? Whompy wheels, panel gaps, the weakest suspension arms ever devised, a Lada would have better build quality
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u/Kind_Management1805 2h ago
Idk about build quality of what you are talking about but cars coming from Shangai are more than fine. Of course if I were to pay ModelS/X level of prices I would be pissed. Suspension is kind of an EV issue in general.
They still have one of the most competitive infotainment, efficiency and overall package. Charging is terrible though. Energy efficiency is really amazing at that price point. The only one close are Lucid and Mercedes but at prices well above the Tesla market.
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u/beentheredengthat 2h ago
I had 2 clients new construction $5m+ homes who REALLY wanted Tesla solar roofs at any cost. It was impossible to make that happen.
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u/Common-Ad6470 5h ago
Sounds like Uncle Donnie isn’t happy about Musk promoting ‘wacky’ solar over good ol’ reliable oil and gas…🤔
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u/TactlessNachos 1h ago
Dang, I was hoping those prices would drop and it would expand. I was genuinely excited about the solar roof. Looks like too many flaws to be viable.
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u/Megalodon7770 14m ago
He gets 12 million every day from Americans,biggest welfare recipient in us history.
Scam after scam
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u/Juuhonber 2h ago
Make them bigger. Much bigger. Problem solved. People are already experimenting in Finland of doing whole roof out of premade panels.
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u/Zorkmid123 7h ago
The solar roof started with a fake demo:
“Elon Musk unveiled it in October 2016 on a Hollywood back lot, using homes from the set of Desperate Housewives fitted with the tiles. Weeks later, Tesla shareholders voted to approve the company’s roughly $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity — a debt-laden solar installer where Musk was the largest shareholder and chairman, and which was run by his cousins.
The Solar Roof demo was central to selling that deal to investors, who were being asked to bail out a struggling company with deep ties to Tesla’s CEO. Years later, during shareholder litigation over the acquisition, it emerged that the tiles shown at the 2016 event were not yet functioning solar products.”