Pre-orders have opened for Tesla's Solar Roof, giving homeowners a chance to put money down to replace their roof with high-tech tiles that will also help power their abode.
Since the cost of swapping in Tesla's sun-sapping equivalent is tricky to budget (considering there's no "one size fits all" for roofs), Tesla has installed a handy calculator that churns out a relative figure for how much it could cost to get your very own. It will also tell you how much you'll potentially save.
The calculator just needs an address, your home's square footage, and number of stories to make an estimate on how much of its solar roofing you'll need and how effective it will be at collecting sun rays, thanks to Google's Project Sunroof 3D-mapping technology, according to TechCrunch.
From there, the estimate weighs the cost of building an actual Solar Roof and installing one or more optional Powerwall batteries against possible savings from tax credits and saved energy over the course of 30 years. This gives users a general idea how worthwhile the investment might be.
Here's what a sample calculation looks like:
The calculator also includes a slider that adjusts how much of the roof you'd like made of Tesla's solar tiles, since some portions with lots of shade or fixtures like chimneys can't take advantage of the technology.
Obviously, a Tesla Solar Roof isn't exactly cheap, but the main savings you're supposed to get from one are to be seen in your energy bill over several decades.
Shoppers can choose between one of two tiling styles — textured or smooth — which are designed to blend in with 'normal' roofs. These are seemingly quite durable, and two more styles — Tuscan and slate — are expected to debut in 2018.
For those who've crunched the numbers and are ready to go solar, a $1,000 deposit can be made to secure an order on Tesla's website. Should you change your mind, Tesla says the deposit is fully refundable until you make either a purchase or an installation agreement.
Solar roof can be ordered for almost any country. Deployment this year in the US and overseas next year.May 10, 2017
Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced on Twitter his company's Solar Roof can be ordered "for almost any country" and that the high-tech roofing solution will be deployed this year in the US and overseas next year.
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