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Comment by kccqzy | Hacker News Reader

In my opinion, the Tesla Solar Roof really appealed to people who wanted good looks. They probably already have their “forever” homes and are not thinking of moving at all. It is more about the emotional attachment to this part of your home than its functional aspects. You can buy a $100 dining table from IKEA or you can buy a $1,000 dining table from Pottery Barn or you can buy a custom $5,000 dining table made from a solid piece of wood. It's the same functionality but emotionally very different.

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Yeah and I think that's fine - and as I mentioned below my own reasons for installing solar panels were not just financially motivated. But the economics are also hugely important. Most people don't buy $5,000 tables, and most people don't buy Tesla Solar Roofs - the article says they sold 3,000 total in the last decade. And I don't think Tesla wants to be in the bespoke roof business - they want to be selling to the masses (or at least a sizeable well-off segment of the masses).

It also doesn't help that they seemingly had issues scaling up - and even people who were willing to spend $100K on a Solar Roof faced long delays if they were available at all in their market. Tesla's image has also shifted in the last decade, and having a Tesla parked in your driveway with a powerwall and solar roof doesn't carry quite the same image that it once did - which is important when you are relying on emotions to drive sales.

> the article says they sold 3,000 total in the last decade.

>It also doesn't help that they seemingly had issues scaling up

I think these two things were highly related. Same with the cost. They couldn’t figure out how to scale up, which kept prices high and volume low. Because of this, it really was a bespoke business. And while, it looks nice, that type of margin just is not going to provide the returns they promised investors.

They could have had that- if they had a standardizeable install method. Aluframes for the roofs, have bespoke solarpanels just slide in and lock up as roof over roof install. The problem there was the statics not working out

Yeah, Elon's whole shtick is make things scale up that everyone else thinks can't scale up. Sometimes it works (batteries), sometimes it works spectacularly well (Falcon 9), sometimes it fizzles out because it turns out everyone else was right (tunnel boring, solar tiles).

The boss wishes for a product distorts the target audience selection?

But we're talking about a utility here. If someone just wants to own fashionable things there are better ways to do that.

Not if the two things you want are "solar power for your home" and "for your roof to not be covered in obvious solar panels".

I have a Tesla solar roof. I bought it knowing there were cheaper options for equivalent solar power because I liked the aesthetics.

Does it actually make sense financially vs investing in something else?

No it doesn’t, but style never makes financial sense.

Not really, no.

The Bottega Veneta of roof tiles.

$350 socks eh…

https://www.bottegaveneta.com/en-us/men-collection-us/men-ne...

I mean, if your goal is to absolutely maximize the number in your bank account, no. But then there are other things you could be doing too -- you can do the math and cover all your nutritional needs for under $1 a day, by eating mostly potatoes. But most people prefer to spend 20x that much and have food that tastes decent. And a handful of people will spend 30-40x that to have really nice food.

If you think about money as a tool to maximize your "joy", then whether the Solar Roof is worth it completely depends on your preferences and your financial situation. Most people are fine with black panels; but if you have the money and like the look of the tiles, why not?

I don't get it. If it's cheaper to have a nice traditional slate/cedar roof and just buy my electricity from the grid then why would I want solar tiles? Just to tell my friends how I'm saving the planet? It's not like solar tiles have a monopoly on electricity or nice roofing materials.

Before I bought a solar roof, I used to really struggle for things to talk about when I met new people.

I was considering joining a Crossfit gym but that seemed really strenuous so the next best thing was sending a truckload of money to Tesla.

Solar Roofs can still pay for themselves, it's just a much longer pay back period than with commodity panels. So I guess the Solar Roof strikes a balance between economic benefit and design that makes sense for some people.

> Just to tell my friends how I'm saving the planet?

This is a really uncharitable framing that I often see repeated that wealthy people are only motivated by how other people perceive them. And sure, that probably plays a part for some people. But maybe they just feel good about saving on their electricity bill in the long term and reducing their carbon foot print - even if it's not the most economical or environmentally friendly option available?

It's possible the math works out differently for people whose roof already needs to be replaced, or for people whose roof can be nearly totally covered with generating tiles.

In my case, it's been a while since I crunched the numbers but the pay back period is effectively infinite, assuming that had I not bought the roof I'd invested the money instead. This is especially true as temperatures continue to swing more and more widely (winters that push below the efficient window for my heat pumps are murderous on my banked solar energy) and more states and electric companies switch from net metering to newer rate plans.

But I guess my first question is why you want solar panels at all then? For most people it’s about saving money long term first, then maybe energy independence (especially in emergencies) if possible, then just wanting to go green. If it’s aesthetics, you can do a cool roof without solar I assume.

What drove you to get solar panels ultimately and why did you go Tesla? Genuinely curious. I have a feeling you’ll say something i hadn’t considered.

No, you're pretty spot on. It was the overlap of a couple of factors:

1. I wanted solar & batteries as a buffer for grid outages

2. I wanted to be able to offset some of my energy usage with solar

3. I wanted my roof to look nice, and personally I think solar panels strapped onto a roof don't look very appealing.

4. At the time, Tesla was one of the few names in town for an integrated solar roof.

Saving money wasn't really part of the calculus, which worked out because as the article and parallel comments note, getting a Tesla solar roof is a pretty bad decision if one of your primary factors is cost or saving money on your electric bill.

Makes sense! Appreciate the insight

If it was just about good looks, they could have built large panels with smaller tile style panels integrated on top of them and then used faux tiles to cover the gaps without having to actually connect them electrically.

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