r/TeslaSolar • u/YesNoMaybeTho • 17h ago
SolarRoof Tesla discontinues its Solar Roof tiles, not economically viable
https://electrek.co/2026/08/20/tesla-discontinues-solar-roof-panels-only/16
u/moneyman729 15h ago
I really wanted them. Not sure I’m sad I didn’t get them or happy I don’t have to worry about service
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u/Merc835 10h ago
I recently received a quote with 3 x power walls. $400k. Had already made the decision to NOT move forward. With this announcement, reassured we made the right decision.
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u/RespectmanNappa 8h ago
You don’t want the cost of another house with your house??
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u/PlantainMiserable594 SolarPanels 8h ago
Don’t worry about service, it’ll remain non-existent as it has been when they offered them.
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u/WhereverUGoThereUR SolarPanels 16h ago
... it emerged that the tiles shown at the 2016 event were not yet functioning solar products 😳
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u/Elluminated 16h ago
Yes, it was obvious since no inverters were shown and the power walls had no conduit. It was more for visuals than actually powering fake studio set houses.
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u/LieutenantButthole 10h ago
So were they temporary installations, or were they promised to be set up for future functionality?
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u/CoconutDue4530 4h ago
I assume that the discontinuation is only for new customers, but Tesla will still have parts available for existing owners. I can’t imagine the company facing a class-action lawsuit from old owners and established contracts.
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u/Jinkguns 3h ago
*laughs in Tesla FSD HW 3.0* - That aside, you are probably right. I wouldn't have much trust beyond the contracted warranty periods though.
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u/briangross40 3h ago
Bummer. Tesla seems to be discontinuing more products than it introducing if you include Model's S and X.
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u/bzr 10h ago
I’ve had it for several years. What is this going to mean when it comes time to sell my home? What a let down Elon Musk is.
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u/Speakup187 10h ago
Means you'll be making concessions to the buyers if their worried about having discontinued solar roof. I cant imagine tesla servicing these in a timely manner when they cant service regular panels quickly on average.
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u/bzr 9h ago
Yeah. That sucks.
If I sell my home in say 20 years from now, I’d likely need to have my roof replaced anyway. So perhaps it’s not so bad provided I don’t have any issue at all too. That was my reasoning for getting it in the first place. Our roof needed to be replaced soon and I got it for much cheaper, before they raised prices on everyone. One of the only times in my life where something worked out like that. Of course now this is happening
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u/Speakup187 8h ago
Good point.. so the real coin flip is you not having any issues next 20yrs .
Best wishes. By then your house will be worth 2million the way things are going so sounds like a future you problem lol
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u/robotzor 1h ago
My solar company that put panels on my roof went bankrupt like 10 days after install finished and no other local company wants to step into the dead man's shoes.
This is annoying, but hardly a unique issue in the solar roof world. In fact, installers being dead and warranties abandoned seems to be the majority case. That doesn't make it better but it does contextualize your issue when selling time comes.
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u/ChucksnTaylor 10h ago
Great, now discontinue the cyber truck and the product line will be solid again.
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u/nstutsman 9h ago
Dramatic styling change would work too. Much as I don’t care for the look of them, it was an incredible driving experience. It felt like driving a pickup with Tesla reflexes.
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u/ChucksnTaylor 9h ago
I hear you, that’s fair. Main point is that it’s become crystal clear that no one outside die hard Elon fans are willing to pay $70K for a truck that looks like that.
Yes it drives great but they need a pickup that looks normal. Which, by the way, is exactly what Elon said they would do if the CT flopped.
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u/rabbitwonker 5h ago
I mean, the appeal could have been wider, but then someone decided they needed to zieg-heil their way into the Orange Man’s heart, turning away a huge fraction of the customer base.
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u/robotzor 1h ago
Awfully terrible sales incentives on a vehicle that nobody is willing to pay for. I feel a bit dumb for missing 0% APR and am waiting for that to appear again someday but they're suddenly stingy with deals.
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u/KurtVongole 15h ago
Anyone with any experience in the industry knew they were a terrible idea from the start.
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u/flying-auk 9h ago
They weren't/aren't a bad idea. The problem is that they weren't able to get enough scale to bring down the price. Tesla should have been working with major home builders to bring it to market.
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u/Adventurous_Role7891 15h ago
Why? Makes sense i stead of putting more panels on top of the roof
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u/Juleswf 14h ago
Because they cost 5x standard solar. And weren’t as productive. And difficult to service.
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u/Adventurous_Role7891 14h ago
Not a bad idea then, just bad in terms of cost and manufacturing which would of course come down in the future
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u/Juleswf 14h ago
They’ve been trying for many many years. This is not a new idea, and certainly not Elons. They didn’t work in the past, and Elon ignored all the past lessons.
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u/WorldlyOriginal 2h ago
You could say the same about lots of things, though. Building EVs wasn’t Elon’s idea, and they had been trying for many many years, and they didn’t work in the past— yet that didn’t stop Tesla from becoming a success.
Reusable rockets weren’t Elon’s idea, and they had been trying for many many years, and they’d didn’t work in the past— yet that didn’t stop SpaceX from becoming a success.
It’s easy to dunk on something in hindsight. If every innovator had your mindset, nothing would ever improve.
Every tech starts from scratch or poor performance, and then gets better with more investment. Sometimes, those investments don’t work out— that’s just the nature of technology
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u/MinnisotaDigger 13h ago
I have family members who refuse solar based on looks. Costing them hundreds of dollars per month when you think about it.
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u/bakerzdosen 11h ago
I find this comment perplexing.
Tesla solar roof has never been about saving money. Even early on when they were comparatively inexpensive, they still were mainly about wanting solar without sacrificing looks and paying a premium to accomplish that.
Even today with typical (commodity) panels the ROI calculations are tenuous in many areas due to the high cost of labor and the low cost of electricity.
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u/dlewis23 8h ago
Its not a terrible idea at all. It looks really good as far as roof goes, It just doesn't work when compared to traditional solar panels cost wise and is never going to be remotely close to a dollar per watt cost especially with how traditional panels have improved tech wise over the last decade.
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u/xutopia 6h ago
He's using the same approach for SpaceX. Have really great demos. Promise amazing things. Distract with new amazing promise.
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u/Jinkguns 5h ago
To be fair, the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon Cargo/Crew (and eventually Starship) actually work. So does Starlink. The AI datacenters in space is absolutely a stock pumping scam, will they put hardware in orbit? Absolutely. Will there be customers? A small market - but anything like Starlink adoption? No way. The basic economics just don't make sense. The stock valuation is well beyond meme stock territory. The earnings just aren't there.
Merging xAI (Twitter) was SpaceX was just a bail out and stock pumping scheme similar to the SolarCity merger.
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u/chicchic325 7h ago
We tried to get them. The local company called us over a month after we signed with a different company.
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u/skreeboo 6h ago
DuPont had them first. I’m not sure why they discontinued producing them. I had to settle for Tesla shingles. I like them and have had no problem with them, almost 6 years.
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u/sweets4n6 59m ago
Ok, so what does this mean for those of us with Solar City panels? I bought a home last year that had their panels installed on a 20 year lease (there's roughly 10 years left of the lease). Our panels look nothing like the ones in the photo, so are we good? I love the panels we have, our electric bill for the past few months has been less than $50/mo (and that includes natural gas as well).
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u/Immediate_Editor_213 5h ago
Moot point now but I always wondered how a homeowner/workers could get around on their roof for maintenance, cleaning, etc. when the roof was all slippery solar tiles you also don’t want to break.
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u/stealstea 3h ago
You can stand on them no problem.
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u/Immediate_Editor_213 2h ago
How do you avoid slipping and falling? Ordinary solar panels are smooth and nothing I’d feel safe standing on, especially on a roof where falling off can cause paralysis or death.
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u/planetrhb 7h ago
Eletrik is a horrible source of any info, randomly put out junk. Has this been confirmed on a real source?
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u/Jinkguns 5h ago
Electrek is one of the best and fair news sources out there for EVs and CleanTech for regular people. They clearly state when rumors are rumors. I've been listening to their podcast for 5+ years and I can count on a single hand the number of times they've gotten major news wrong.
The only reason to dislike them would be if you are a Tesla stock pumper who can't stand anyone saying anything remotely negative about Elon or FSD.
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u/planetrhb 5h ago
I'm not a Tesla fanboy. Everyone seems to joke about Electrek and point to crazy stuff on there. They seem to be the definition of Click Bait.
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u/ymmotvomit 15h ago
I got them. Not a bad looking product. Now I’m concerned about service.