The CEO of electric car company Tesla motors and SpaceX talked about something a lot more mundane on Oct. 28, 2016. He talked about roofs on the sets of Desperate Housewives in Universal City, California. However, Musk had added his own twist to the “roofs.” Based on reports by USAToday, these were solar roofs that will be offered starting next year by SolarCity, a company that Tesla wants to acquire as soon as possible. Musk, the current chairman of SolarCity, told reporters after the event that his vision for the future is “very unwieldy if both [Tesla and SolarCity] are not combined.” SolarCity, a home solar installation company, is run by Musk’s cousin and CEO of the company, Lyndon Rive. Based on reports by TechCrunch, the roofing comes in four different styles, all of which are far more aesthetically pleasing than the standard solar-paneled roofs. These include “Textured Glass Tile,” “Slate Glass Tile” “Tuscan Glass Tile, and “Smooth Glass Tile.”
All these types are transparent to solar energy but are opaque when viewed from an angle. As for the durability of the solar roofs, Reuters reported that these tiles, made with quartz glass, will outlast regular asphalt tiles. Musk later added, rather cheekily, that “they should last longer than the house.” Besides consistently working on improving the product on his own, Musk has partnered with 3M to develop a coating that increases the efficiency of the solar tiles. Currently, there is a 2 percent loss if efficiency is compared to the traditional array-like solar panels that are installed on roofs. Based on reports by TechCrunch, the main function of the new coating would be to trap light within. This additional feature will make the light bounce around before it is completely diffused, allowing more of the energy to be utilized.
The Guardian reported that Elon Musk, though extremely enthusiastic about his new product, did not shed much light on pricing. Musk only claimed that the roof will provide fiscal benefits to the homeowners post-installation and also that the cost of installing the SolarCity roof will cost significantly less than the combined cost of installing a regular asphalt roof with attached discrete solar panels.
The main objective of this design is that energy generated from the roofs should be sufficient to fully power a well-furnished household. The energy will be stored in another Musk marvel, the new Powerwall 2.0 battery units. The Tesla CEO was quoted as saying that, “This is sort of the integrated future. An electric car, a Powerwall and a solar roof. The key is it needs to be beautiful, affordable and seamlessly integrated.” Needless to say, Tesla has ambitious plans for his new project.
Based on reports by the Los Angeles Times, SolarCity cofounder Peter Rive, said the solar roofs could corner a five percent share of the roofing market in less than two years. Tesla has made a foray into a new dimension of clean energy that has to date had very little success. Greentechmedia.com reported that it was just this year that Dow discontinued the sale of the solar shingle it launched a mere five years ago. Aditya Joshi, a third year Mechanical Engineer at Michigan Tech called the gutsy entrepreneur “the Willy Wonka of the 21st Century.”
