No, I just want a new roof. I wasn't planning on installing Solar. Solar was supposed to be a perk of buying the roof from Tesla...and all of this was supposed to cost as much as a roof alone.
Not sure why you got downvoted. But the point is that if you weren't planning on solar in the first place, the long-term economics of a Tesla roof look even better. Your 30-year net cost is $12K + maintenance on the standard roof you got quoted on. Tesla is saying their 30-year net cost is -$50K or -$100K or whatever, to be paid to you in what is essentially credits against your electricity bill.
In either case, you can finance the costs. Given how Solar City usually operates, I imagine they'll roll the costs in a lease or power purchase agreement where you send them a check each month for an amount less than your current electricity bill.
I'm not saying it's the best deal around. You could come away with an even better net total by re-roofing and putting on traditional solar panels. But then you've got an uglier roof, if you care about that sort of thing -- and there are definitely people who do.
Exactly...cost was supposed to be a new premium roof (just the roof, no solar panels) and they are about 3 times more expensive than "just the roof".
Unless they meant a "new roof" as in when you build a house from scratch and you don't have rafters or anything. If you have an existing roof you are redoing every 20 years or so, then this is definitely not the cost of a "new roof".
> cost was supposed to be a new premium roof (just the roof, no solar panels)
That makes very little sense. You're making an apples to oranges comparison here. It would be absolutely impossible to pull that off. It's literally the premium roof + solar and you want it to be the same price as premium roof (thus, you want the solar hardware to cost nothing.
Only one of these generates electricity, thus saving you money and that must be included in the cost calculation in order to determine the actual cost.
> It would be absolutely impossible to pull that off
And yet it was promised by Musk. Literally "a solar roof will actually cost less than a normal roof before you even take the value of electricity into account".
Sorry, where'd you get a quote for, say, a "Spanish" tile roof that inexpensive? And yeah, he did say (in the launch video) that the electricity was a part of the computation.
In either case, you can finance the costs. Given how Solar City usually operates, I imagine they'll roll the costs in a lease or power purchase agreement where you send them a check each month for an amount less than your current electricity bill.
I'm not saying it's the best deal around. You could come away with an even better net total by re-roofing and putting on traditional solar panels. But then you've got an uglier roof, if you care about that sort of thing -- and there are definitely people who do.