[sojsurf]

It's easy to forget that old designs are not necessarily bad designs. The "original" shingles are wooden shingles, clay half-pipes, and slate shingles. These have some good things going for them:

- Modular design makes transportation, storage and installation simple.

- Modular design makes it easy to replace just a small section.

- Simple design means it's easy to understand edge cases and failure modes.

- Simple, standardized shapes make it easy to replace parts even if the original manufacturer is out of business.

I can replace a shingle on a 100-year-old roof, no questions asked. What will people do when one or two of their custom Tesla roof shingles fail in 20 years? 30 years?

Newer (or fancier) is not always better.

[cobbzilla]

iirc they have a life warranty, that kind of addresses your concern.

[amanaplanacanal]

One thing to think about: most companies don’t last a full human lifetime. Such a warranty isn’t as good as advertised.