Tesla's Solar Roof hit the news last year on the heels of theirPowerwall home battery, both of which brought a lot of great attention to home solar power generation. When wefirst reported on itduring that exciting news cycle, there was very little said about what it would cost, just that it would be cheaper than traditional roofs.
Information on pricing was released in early May, and it is said to be available in Canada this summer, though there may be a waiting list at first. As for cost, the claim about it being cheaper than standard roof coverings is a little dubious to say the least. Factually, that depends on what you compare it against, and a slew of other unknowns that go unmentioned.
Cheaper than a 'conventional roof' could perhaps be true in sunny California if you compare it to a high-end roofing material like terra cotta or slate tiles (two looks their shingles mimic), but it's not going to be cheaper than asphalt shingles, which is the image most people conjure up when they think about a roof.
There is no question as to the value of home-produced renewable energy, but how that will play out for you financially requires inputting a lot more variables into the equation than the headlines lead you to believe.
Since offsetting installation costs with energy production is figured into their numbers, it should be noted that solar panels in a sunny region compared to a cloudier region will have a much better return on investment, as will homes with a south-facing roof orientation and ideal angle for solar collection. If you have a steep roof pitch facing east or west, don't even think about it as you'd probably need to outlive Yoda to see a payback. And the further north you go the less available sun hours you will have to recoup your investment, so Canadians have a disadvantage from the onset.
If that's not enough to overheat your calculator, remember that you haven't even included your local electricity rates in the mix yet, which can more than double from one province to another. Sorry for sounding like a Debbie Downer, but it's not so cut and dried as to be able to say a Tesla Rolar Roof is cheaper than a conventional roof, in fact it may be many times more expensive.
As reported byForbes在美国，一个带电池系统的普通大小的屋顶可能要花费近6万美元;即使对你能找到的最好的屋顶产品来说，这个价格也太高了。
The only issue we have with this is Tesla's fairly liberal use of the term 'cheap'. The Solar Roof is great news for the future of home power generation, but at$42 USD per square footit's not cheaper than the $5 Canadian per square foot you would pay for asphalt, even when you factor in lower electricity bills in the future. This is not to sing the praises of asphalt shingles (which will be heading for a landfill while a Tesla roof is still powering that sweet ride in your laneway), but math is not open to interpretation.
In Elon Musk's words -“这将是非常困难的，需要很长时间，一路上会有一些磕磕绊绊。但这是对未来唯一明智的展望。”
Yes, and yes. Musk is a titan of solar power and we are thrilled such an innovator exists; hopefully his vision of roofs powering our homes and our vehicles will come true in the future, and someday, maybe it will be cheaper than what we do now.
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