The Problem With Tesla’s Solar Roof

this video is brought to you by brilliant tesla and elon musk have been on a mission to make their solar roof tiles the go-to solution if you're considering a new roof plus solar panels why buy and install two separate products when you can make one that does both i don't know about you but my neighborhood has a lot of solar panels but is still looking a little scrimpy on the solar roof front so what happened increased prices installation times that still take the better part of a week and new competition that may beat tesla on price and installation time there's some interesting solar and shingle competition out there now like a new solar shingle that got a lot of buzz at this year's ces but where are they i'm matt farrell welcome to undecided [Music] ces 2022 a new solar shingle product won an innovation award that looks very promising and garnered a lot of buzz a product that's supposed to be affordable and fast to install but before getting to that what's the big deal surrounding solar shingles versus the regular solar panels that we're all familiar with first we need to talk about the difference between solar panels and solar shingles or we could just call them solar roofs now solar panels are like a not so fashionable hat for your roof they attach to your existing roof as a separate apparatus altogether it's what i've got on my roof now solar shingles on the other hand are more like a sustainable blanket for your roof in some cases they cover your existing roof like a second skin in other cases they are your roof but better at least in theory as you might imagine these design differences make for very different buying experiences in the long run some of those key differences will be how aesthetically pleasing your roof looks the frequency and feasibility of maintenance and repairs the efficiency of your panels once it's in use and finally the big one the cost depending on the look and technology the average cost for solar shingles ranges around fifteen thousand to twenty thousand dollars that's on the low end and for premium brands like tesla solar roof tiles they can cost you up to forty five to seventy thousand dollars and even more so have solar roofs gained any advantage in the residential solar tech field let's go over a few of the pros and cons as it stands right now first the pros solar shingles are designed to be sleek and minimalistic compared to the bulky look of solar panels and they blend into your existing roof so neighbors might not even know it's solar if you care about that kind of thing i kind of like how solar panels look now if you need to replace your roof or are doing new home build solar shingles can be more cost effective in roofing material and labor compared to installing a conventional roof and adding solar panels later it does depend on the type of roofing material that you're comparing it to though and it's the epitome of two birds one stone and since solar tiles and shingles are installed via slats they're incredibly easy to remove and reinstall if they ever get damaged all you need to do is sweep up the broken pieces remove the damaged tile and reinstall the replacement it can actually be easier than replacing asphalt shingles i actually spoke about this exact issue with a tessa solar roof installer in a previous video but like all innovative technologies solar roofs also come with some cons these shingles require special care during installation so anyone who wants a solar roof of their own has to go through approved roofers who are trained in the craft that may not be an issue if you're in a well-populated area but customers in rural areas may not have as many options to choose from sole roof panels come in sizes depending on the manufacturer if your roof is flat and simple that may not be an issue however complex and other weird roof shapes and angles may struggle to fit the solar shingles and tiles in a way that makes sense if you're looking to get a solar roof anytime soon you might be disappointed wait times still range from several months to years depending on your installer of choice and the final one is obviously the big one cost it's still not at mainstream prices yet so when we talk about solar roof tesla is probably the company that you think of first they've done an incredible job innovating in the space and getting a lot of attention there's definitely a power in a well-known brand who have already made a name for themselves in the renewable energy sphere tesla solar roof is proving to be a great product but why has the rollout been so slow their dream for solo roofs was big but after their launch it quickly became apparent that the actual manpower behind it had yet to catch up completely some excited customers put in their deposits to pre-order their solar roof installation only to be told two years later that tesla had no longer planned to serve their region and customers within tesla service areas still had to contend with huge wait lists a problem only compounded as production struggled to ramp up in time with the incredible demand but the biggest problem the cost the initial price tag was fine with most customers it was when tesla changed them at the last minute that got a lot of people heated in april of 2021 customers still waiting on their solar roof installation started to get notices alerting them the prices of their solar roofs were going up sometimes as much as a hundred percent i had several of you reach out to me with details on price hikes that you saw which caused some of you to cancel after a lot of turmoil around the pricing issues tesla did start to honor customers original quotes if they were already under contract but it's important to point out the biggest culprit in the tesla solar pricing fiasco was inaccurate estimates at the beginning of the process tesla's streamlined online ordering system and satellite photos that are used to give an initial estimate had some issues more complex roof structures can dramatically increase the labor requirements for the installation this wasn't getting properly captured in the early iterations of the system since then tesla has improved the system to give more accurate estimates earlier in the process but the world of solar roofing doesn't begin and end with tesla tesla may be the big name but many other companies have slowly inched up in the solar roof race here are just a few of the many contenders fighting to knock tesla from their solar roof pedestal and get products into our hands luma solar is a u.s solar company that actually claims that they created the first solar roof in america maybe the world in quotes whether or not you believe that claim they do have an impressive history behind them as they've received presidential endorsements and international awards more recently they've created a solar shingle system that's upgradable their costs can be a little harder to pin down but luma prides themselves in creating personalized systems based on your exact roof you're looking at about 38 dollars per solar square foot installed or in terms of actual energy involved about 4.50 cents a watt certainty roof shingles use the same monocrystalline solar pv technology as traditional solar cells while traditional panels use a racking system certainty solar roof shingles are literally built into your roof to be an integral part of it this keeps the shingles unobtrusive and low profile certainty offers the apollo 2 and the apollo 2 tile system both of which produce about 60 watts of power for each 14 cells in terms of efficiency certainty is definitely on the lower end of things at 16 efficiency however they are a strong candidate when you're seeking a low-cost option with those long-term savings the swedish company's sunroof is embracing the high-tech look of solar panels they definitely look like a solar roof but for some people that's the whole point these panels use monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon glass and its design with an impressive 18.8 percent efficiency sunroof also guarantees 80 of the original production capacity after 30 years of operation which makes these panels a great option for the long haul soltec may not be as well known in residential circles but the company was actually the winner of the german sustainability award in 2021 these interlocking tiles are meant to be installed directly onto the plywood soltec offers a 40-year performance warranty which is 10 years more than what tesla offers and they also offer several options depending on the type of roof that you have and finally there's gaf gaff is one of the competitors to make a recent splash onto the scene and already they've made quite an impression at ces 2022 gaff energy is a subsidiary of standard industries one of the biggest roofing leaders in the us introduced the timberline solar shingle which won an innovation award the biggest change unlike other solar panels timber line can be installed with a nail gun directly under your roof this shingle-like design makes it easier for any roofer to learn not just specialized installers this easy installation has other domino effects as well for one the learning curve installation time goes way down while tesla solar roof can take a week down to a couple of days to install timberline only requires a few days sometimes as few as two according to gaff themselves but it is important to point out that all solar roof systems are striving to get the installation time down to a day or two including tesla so why is that particular point important well installation is typically the largest expense for residential solar energy systems think of the labor cost difference between five days of work versus two those numbers add up fast it's also why it's difficult to give a price estimate in this video the electrical components and wiring are located on top of the shingle instead of underneath like other shingles that makes it far easier to service those parts when the time comes which as a result makes those repairs quicker and in theory less expensive each shingle is also nearly 20 inches longer than the typical tesla tile which ultimately means fewer electrical components to deal with in the same square area solar shingles are usually flush with the roof which means they get hotter faster which generally reduces their efficiency to counteract this gaff uses high energy efficiency cells called monoperk cells which should perform better than traditional monocrystalline pv cells at high temps so what makes monopercels different in typical solar cells you have an emitter layer on top and a black coating underneath monoprix cells use a sunlight absorbing front layer and a dielectric passivation film on the rear side to absorb any scattered light the result monoperk cells have higher light absorption and internal reflectivity that means they can have a higher energy density to make the most out of that limited space in your roof this does lead to a few questions when you look at how timberline performs in terms of energy output at 45 watts per square foot the timberline is still way behind tesla's impressive 71 watts output part of this may be due to the fact that the timberline shingles overlap each other which leads to less active material to work gaff claims that if you only consider the active solar cells the shingles match tesla's efficiency but that remains to be seen at this point gaff has already sold and installed 3 000 integrated roofs since 2017 of their previous products which is still more than tesla has installed at least according to gaff's president so how have they gotten off to such a strong start compared to tesla well for starters gaff is already a staple in the roofing industry so they have a distinct advantage in the solar roof market one out of every four residential roofs in the u.s comes from gaf this plugs them into finding new solar customers easily customer acquisition normally represents about 23 of the total cost of solar residential systems so by plugging into this market gaff is already ahead of the game even with its flaws the timberline already has some pretty exciting potential gaff is already working on timberline 2.0 so we hopefully don't have to wait too much longer to see what's around the corner so solar roofs are the game changers elon musk promised in 2016 or are they a pipe dream well honestly i would say neither like all new and renewable energy technologies there are a lot of kinks to work out and getting the best product is going to take a little creativity and a lot of patience we're probably better off seeing solar roofs as a piece of the overall puzzle instead of the paradigm shifting product that some advocates tried to sell them as one thing has definitely been confirmed over the past six years under the status quo solar roofs are going to have a hard time on the residential market the biggest factor is sadly going to be what it usually comes down to the cost combined with the labor price truly drives everything when it comes to renewable tech like this this is especially true depending on where you live if you live in a 2 000 square foot house valued at 150 000 in the middle of iowa a 50 000 roof is going to be a much harder sell than if you're in a 2 000 square foot house valued at 600 000 in massachusetts the cost analysis is going to look completely out of whack depending on where you live at this point solar roofs are a better fit for the higher end of the market these types of customers have less of a hard time with a higher price tag and can give the industry time to improve costs ramp up labor and training for the low end of the market it's not that different from luxury cars it could just be an aspirational product for the time being as things continue to work themselves out developments like the timberline panels are a crucial step in the right direction to produce solar roofs affordably at scale and tesla is continuing to refine their production and installation procedures too to also drive their costs down timing is a huge factor here anyone in marketing will tell you that you want to get your message to the customer as early as possible so you're involved in the decision as it happens the best time to get a solar roof is the moment when shocker you're about to replace your roof no one wants to drop 50 000 on a roof that still has decades to go or to be on a wait list if they need a new roof right now if solar roof companies can join the conversation early on and have the supply and installers to mesh demand customers are in a better position to choose the solar experience until all of those things align we're going to have to continue being patient and use logic to determine what's the right solution for us in the time being and if you want to strength those logic muscles and critical thinking skills so you can make more informed decisions for yourself i'd strongly recommend checking out brilliant their interactive and hands-on courses have helped me get better at extrapolating data and making more informed decisions from partial information and that includes interactive courses and topics that range from scientific thinking to computer science fundamentals they've got something for everybody the logic course is a super fun one that takes you through game theory as well as uncovering unknown answers with information you don't completely understand you get to put your critical thinking skills through their paces with some really fun puzzles and riddles i really did have a good time going through this one all the concepts were taught through fun and interactive challenges to help you understand the why of something not just the how it helps you to develop your intuition which is my absolute favorite part about brilliant go to brilliant.org undecided to sign up for free and also the first 200 people will get 20 off their annual premium membership thanks to brilliant and to all of you for supporting the channel so what do you think of solar roofs do you have one are you planning to get one jump in the comments and let me know if you have knowledge on this or work in the industry please share experiences so we can learn more together you can also join my discord server and talk to other members of the community the link's also in the description and thanks as always to my patrons and a big welcome to new producer mark oglesby all of your direct support really helps with producing these videos and to reduce my dependence on the almighty youtube algorithm and speaking of that if you like this video be sure to check out one of the ones i have linked to right here and subscribe and hit that notification bell if you think i've earned it thanks so much for watching i'll see you in the next

Channel: Undecided with Matt Ferrell

Views: 1,271,017

Keywords: elon musk, energy, is solar worth it, renewable energy, solar energy, solar panels, solar roof, solar roof shingles, solar roof tesla, solar roof tiles, solar roof v3, solar roofs, solar tiles, tesla energy, tesla powerwall, tesla solar, tesla solar roof, tesla solar roof cost, tesla solar roof install, tesla solar roof price, tesla solar roof review, tesla solar roof tiles, tesla solar roof vs solar panels, undecided with matt ferrell

Id: sFwZQHZAJDc

Length: 13min 48sec (828 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 15 2022