You Can Now Pre-order Tesla’s Solar Roof Tiles and Calculate the Total Cost

via Tesla

via Tesla

Last year, Tesla announced a new disruptive product to the market in the form of solar roof shingles.  Unlike traditional solar roof panels, these shingles mimic the look of traditional terra cotta, clay, and slate tiles, creating a more aesthetically pleasing look.  This week, the company began taking pre-orders for the roof shingles and also released a cost calculator.

Starting now, you can place your solar roof tile pre-order with a down payment of $1,000 on Tesla’s website.  Currently, only the “textured” and “smooth” roof shingles are available, but the terra cotta-type “Tuscan” shingles and the slate shingles will be available next year.  The company expects that the first shingles will be installed in the US sometime this summer.  Those interested outside of the US will have to wait until 2018.

So, the big question is, how much does this cost? Tesla has made this INCREDIBLY easy to figure out the up-front costs with the Solar Roof Calculator on their website.  All you have to do is enter your address and it takes data from Google Project Sunroof to estimate your total costs.  The cost also factors in the cost of the Tesla Powerwall battery ($7,000) and shows you the total amount of energy dollars you can expect to save, as well as the tax credits that are available. 

Tesla is able to customize your roof order with respect to the ratio of solar and non-solar roof tiles.  The solar tiles are much more costly than the non-solar version, but they both look the same from the street, creating a cohesive look. The company is also offering an “infinite tile warranty,” which will cover the tiles for the lifetime of your house.

No details have been released about how exactly the roofs will be installed.  I would imagine that the contractors involved will need to be highly trained, especially for the initial rollout of the product.

You can check out the video below, by Tech Insider, for more information:

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