$50K out of pocket for Tesla roof now? Plus energy/insurance savings recouped over a long future?
vs
$10K out of pocket for conventional now with the other $40K invested at modest returns?

I think the latter wins that business case.

The other downside of shelling out big $ now is that solar roof prices may drop sharply a few years after your purchase.

I love the idea, but can't see doing it at the current price. I'm also curious about the labor/installation cost. Wondering if it might be more cost-effective to do a solar driveway.

Newer roof definitely helps with insurance, but you don't get full discount unless you have all the right ties, straps, shutters, etc to cover every single opening.

Not sure about your math there Joe.
Tesla solar tiles are a glass tile roof system with a lifetime warranty.

Not gonna cost just 10K for even a basic tile roof on an average home even without power generation. Maybe just for sh
ingles (mine was 12K last year)

More like 20-25K+ for even simple terra-cotta And no lifetime warranty.

I think you also left out the tax rebates, and I think the prices quoted were installed

forbes dd their own analysis (also comparing with asphalt shingles)

But of course, the early adopters aren't going to be doing it solely for the savings, they also value the independence and care about helping to solve the very real global warming crisis.


-------------------------
"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

My parents have an aging terra cotta roof (that took some Hurricane damage the past two years).... A new roof quote was close to 40K  (maybe some seasonal gouging?).  At their age he found someone willing to repair it for 2K (it was hard to find matching tiles)

He was considering this option, and if your intention is to stay in the house for a long time it could be worth it. (although, I don't think the tax credits exist anymore )

I did leave rebates out, as well as energy savings.

But I based $10K now on my $8K roof replacement in 2011 (approx 3%/year inflation).

Investing the remaining $40K at 5% for 20 years, until your new shingle roof wears out, will net you $106K.

If you buy a new shingle roof again then, with 20 years' of 3% inflation, it would be $18K. Buy it then and have $88K left over.

The solar roof should get cheaper over time (as tech and mass production would drive), but if you assume inflation still makes the number $50K for solar 20 years from now, you still come out $56K ahead.

The insurance and energy savings accumulate incrementally, so you don't have the equivalent of a full lump saving on Day 1 that increases in value over 20 years.

I definitely appreciate the spirit of the early adopters who can afford it now, and do so for good reasons. But I don't see it as a good investment for the common man yet. In 20 more years, much more likely, but too late in my lifetime to have positive ROI.

Since I'll be due for another roof in 13 years, I'll re-evaluate then.


Extra factoid: When I did my new roof in 2011, I used energy-efficient shingles, only to find I wasn't eligible for the tax rebates because it was a rental property at the time. It only applied to the house that was your primary residence at the time. Gotta read the fine print in deals like that!

Solar roof = good, but hard to recharge your car. That's a lot of energy.

Cars, dryers, electric stoves and ovens, HVAC are all hogs.

Your computer and lights; no problem.

Electric scooter could be a lot better than a car. Maybe.

I know, I know, it's a fossil fuel, but one reason gas heat is cheaper is that it's way more efficient to burn it right in your house. That's direct to heat; no losses (except the energy to push the gas through the pipes) whereas using a heat engine to generate electricity and THEN turning that into heat is a sort of fail.

Using just 20 percent of the sunlight that hits your roof (rough efficiency of a panel) for heating is kind of ironic too.

Physics is not fake news.

Updating the math to include one other consideration:

If you're looking at dropping $5K to $10K, on a whole-house standby generator for hurricane season, and your neighborhood doesn't get natural gas, so you have to drop $4K on a propane tank and $2K to fill it... those are direct, up-front costs that can be traded off against the solar roof + battery wall.