Tesla Discontinues Solar Roof Tiles Citing Economics
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- Tesla has discontinued its Solar Roof tiles, telling certified third-party installers it will only supply conventional solar panels moving forward, with two sources close to the program saying the product is "not financially viable."
- Tesla's website corroborates the wind-down: tesla.com/solarroof now redirects to tesla.com/solarpanels, and "Solar Roof" has been removed from the Energy navigation menu, which now lists only Solar Panels, Powerwall, and Megapack.
- Elon Musk unveiled the Solar Roof in October 2016 on the Desperate Housewives set to help pitch Tesla's roughly $2.6 billion SolarCity acquisition; shareholder litigation later revealed the tiles shown weren't functioning solar products.
- Installed prices ballooned from early quotes near $22 per square foot to cases where a contracted $72,000 job jumped to about $146,000, triggering a class-action lawsuit Tesla settled for $6 million in 2023.
- Musk repeatedly promised 1,000 Solar Roofs per week by the end of 2019 and first half of 2020; Wood Mackenzie data shows peak installations of only 21 to 32 per week, with roughly 3,000 systems installed across about seven years.
- Tesla had already stopped breaking out Solar Roof deployment figures in its quarterly reports in early 2024 and has now fully pivoted to conventional panels paired with Powerwall.
Why it matters: Tesla installed roughly 3,000 Solar Roof systems across seven years versus Musk's promised 1,000 per week, capping a near-total retreat from a product originally unveiled to help sell the $2.6 billion SolarCity acquisition. Homeowners who signed early contracts on price promises lose their only integrated solar-roof option from Tesla, which is now concentrating on standard panels, Powerwall, and planned US panel manufacturing.
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