Tesla Solar Roof Review: Costs, Quality, Warranties & More (2025)

EcoWatch Reviews Methodology

I have more than four year’s worth of experience researching and writing about the solar industry, connecting with industry professionals, and analyzing solar equipment from both a subjective and objective perspective. I use that experience to craft this comprehensive review of Tesla’s Solar Roof. My knowledge of solar technology and solar companies make me the perfect person to guide you through the ins and outs of Tesla’s unique Solar Roof and how it compares to panels that are far more common and less expensive.

I also used my knowledge of solar equipment to purchase a solar array for my own home. I ended up going with traditional panels, but my research for my PV system included a deep dive into Tesla’s Solar Roof, so I’ll be able to analyze the hard data we have about Tesla’s solar shingles from the perspective of a homeowner looking to convert to solar.

I organized this guide into separate sections for each of the most important factors you need to consider before you can decide if a Solar Roof is for you: efficiency, durability, warranty coverage, cost, how your location affects performance, sustainability, and appearance. I give the Solar Roof a score in each category based on how it compares to other solar energy equipment, which I also personally analyzed.

Throughout this article, I follow EcoWatch’s scoring criteria, a system we developed over hundreds of solar reviews to make it easier to understand all of the complex and nuanced details involved in home solar systems. I use EcoWatch’s rubrics to arrive at my section scores and use them to compare the Solar Roof to offerings from other solar companies. I conclude the review with a plan of attack describing the next steps you need to take, whether or not you ultimately decide to go with a Tesla Solar Roof.

Before I get to the specific sections, I want to start with a brief overview of what I like and what I don’t like about Tesla’s Solar Roof.

Tesla Solar Roof: Most Visually Appealing

What I Like About Tesla Solar Roof

Tesla’s Solar Roof is the only rooftop solar system that you might be able to drive by without noticing. I don’t hate the way solar panels look — I have a rack-mounted solar panel system using Maxeon panels on my own roof — but I can’t deny that the Solar Roof is sleek and attractive. In fact, I considered the Tesla Solar Roof for my own home when I was converting to clean energy, specifically because of how streamlined and modern it looked. A Tesla Solar Roof doesn’t detract from your home’s curb appeal the way a bulky rack-mounted system does.

One of the biggest advantages of the Tesla Solar Roof — and other shingle-style solar technology — is that it’s much more flexible than panel-based systems. Solar tiles are significantly smaller than panels, so they can fit into more configurations than a standard solar system can accommodate. This is a huge advantage if you have an oddly shaped roof or multiple roof penetrations to work around since you can reach higher energy offsets than you would be able to with a regular solar panel system. Just as an example, installing panels around a roof vent will cause you to lose an entire panel’s worth of space, usually around 5 feet by 3.5 feet. With shingles, you might only lose a space of around 12 inches by 18 inches, which is about the size of a single solar tile.

Another thing I like about the Solar Roof is that it’s durable and comes with a solid 25-year warranty. The Solar Roof’s performance degradation statistics are good but not great, but its resilience against wind, hail, and fire is excellent. Overall, it’s a durable option for reducing your reliance on fossil fuels, and I’m happy to see that the warranty on a relatively new piece of solar technology is just as good as it is for most panels.

One final benefit the Solar Roof has over an ordinary solar panel array is that you can replace an individual tile if one fails. With solar panels, the smallest replacement you can make is one panel, which is a larger and more expensive job than replacing one solar roofing tile. Of course, the tradeoff is that there are fewer companies around that service solar roofs —Tesla’s or not — so you might have to wait longer for service.

What I Don’t Like About Tesla Solar Roof

Unfortunately, there are many things I don’t like about the Solar Roof, the most glaring of which is the cost. Tesla’s Solar Roofs cost two to three times more than a normal solar panel system, depending on what brand of panels you compare it to. I’ll get more in-depth about cost in a later section, but it’s worth mentioning here, too, as it’s the biggest downside, in my opinion. I would be more forgiving of the cost if the system performed better or lasted longer than a traditional solar system, but it doesn’t.

I said in the previous section that I like the Solar Roof’s physical durability and while that’s true, I think its performance numbers leave a lot to be desired. The Solar Roof loses more efficiency per year than I would be comfortable with buying for my own home. Once again, I wouldn’t mind as much if it had a much higher starting efficiency or some other advantage over solar panels besides looks. The performance is ultimately the reason I decided against the Tesla Solar Roof for my own personal solar conversion.

All of my complaints about the Solar Roof boil down to it just not being worth the cost. Paying double what you’d pay for a high-quality solar system and getting a system that will degrade more quickly without generating more electricity doesn’t make sense to me. The only reason you should go with a Solar Roof, in my opinion, is if you have money to burn and care more about your home’s aesthetics than your solar system’s performance and durability. Ultimately, the Solar Roof is a pass for me until Tesla can get the price down or if it can significantly improve its performance.

Tesla Solar Roof Efficiency

3/25

In order to talk about the performance of the Solar Roof (especially in terms of efficiency), I think it’s important that you first understand some key terms and solar panel metrics. To that end, I’ll first explain how I usually score standard solar panels based on their efficiency. How much energy a photovoltaic cell produces, whether it’s a traditional panel or a solar shingle, depends on more factors than just the efficiency rating on its label. The following list explains the three primary specs you need to understand to have a complete picture of a solar cell’s efficiency:

• Efficiency rating: The efficiency rating tells you how efficient a piece of solar technology is under ideal conditions. This refers to the percentage of the sunlight it’s exposed to that it can actually convert into usable electricity. You can think of it as the theoretical maximum efficiency your solar shingle or solar panel would have in perfect conditions. You need to view the efficiency rating in context with the rest of a solar panel or shingle’s stats to understand what its real-world performance will be, but it’s an important metric on its own, too. A higher efficiency rating means that your panels or solar shingles will generate more power for your home, which also means greater energy savings, a faster payback period where your PV equipment becomes profitable, and less of a reliance on fossil fuels. If we look at the efficiency rating in a vacuum without consideration for the other specifications, a higher efficiency rating is better. An efficiency of 22% or higher receives perfect marks in this grading category.
• Positive power tolerance: In real-world conditions, differences in manufacturing mean that a solar shingle’s power output will vary slightly from its power rating. The positive power tolerance rating tells you how much energy above its listed rating your shingle may produce. Higher positive power tolerances are better, but a solar panel or solar shingle must have a positive power tolerance greater than +5% to receive a perfect score in this category.
• Negative power tolerance: The negative power tolerance is the opposite side of the coin to the positive power tolerance. It tells you how much lower a solar panel or solar shingle’s power output can be than its listed power rating. A piece of solar technology must have a negative power tolerance of -0% to receive full marks in this category.

There are some other things we typically consider when comparing different panel brands, including maximum efficiency and average efficiency. Maximum efficiency, for our purposes, refers to the highest efficiency available from a particular brand, and average efficiency refers to the average efficiency across all of that brand’s solar products. These two metrics don’t really apply when talking about the Tesla Solar Roof because Tesla only has a single solar shingle product. Therefore, the efficiency rating of the Solar Roof is the same as the maximum efficiency and the average efficiency.

Unfortunately, Tesla doesn’t publish efficiency numbers for its Solar Roof, which makes it difficult to compare it to other solar equipment. Virtually all high-quality solar panel manufacturers publish data sheets for their solar panels with information about the panel’s efficiency and durability. Without a corresponding official source, I had to compile results from independent testing, which is less reliable than if the information came directly from Tesla.

I’m not sure why Tesla doesn’t publish spec sheets for its Solar Roof, but it seems like a company-wide policy. When Tesla manufactured its own solar panels, it also didn’t publish efficiency statistics for them, so it seems like a Tesla decision and not a Solar Roof decision. The panels had good efficiency when tested by third parties, too, so it doesn’t seem like the company is trying to hide poor performance by avoiding spec sheets altogether. Still, I value transparency from solar companies, and Tesla’s lack of transparency costs its Solar Roof some points in this section.

Third-party testing suggests that Tesla’s Solar Roof achieves an overall efficiency of between 8% and 14%. This is the amount of energy that hits a Solar Roof, which gets converted into electricity you can use to power your home. For comparison, most tier-one solar panels have efficiency ratings between 20% and 22%, with the best performance in the industry being 23.23% from Jinko Solar. Overall, the Solar Roof is far less efficient than a traditional rooftop solar array — in fact, it’s about 50% less efficient, which is a huge deal.

You might think that a lower efficiency means a lower total power output, but that’s not the case. The reason is that you can fit a much greater number of solar roofing tiles on your roof than solar panels. I personally have 20 panels on my roof, which covers around 400 square feet on the southern-facing section of my roof. Based on my roof size, if I had installed a Tesla Roof instead, I could have covered about 600 square feet. So, right away, the 50% reduction in efficiency is almost negated simply by the fact that I could have fit far more shingles on my roof. In a Solar Roof, practically your entire roof is covered by photovoltaic tiles, whereas solar panels can only cover part of your roof because of their larger size and more restrictive geometry.

The solar shingles Tesla uses in its Solar Roofs also don’t have great negative power tolerance ratings. I give the maximum number of points to panels with negative tolerance ratings of -0%. Tesla’s Solar Roof tiles have a negative power tolerance of -5%, which is quite poor. Practically speaking, such a low negative power tolerance rating means that your system’s production could underproduce by a significant margin.

It’s important to note that I’m making this comparison to panels, which, admittedly, isn’t totally fair. Solar roof shingles are a totally different product, and the technology is relatively new, so I expect that they’ll get better and better as time goes on and manufacturing processes improve. Still, most homeowners considering a Tesla Solar Roof will be choosing between that and traditional panels. So, while this comparison might not be completely fair, I do think it’s helpful.

Each solar shingle in a Tesla Solar Roof generates 72 watts (W), which means that you need 125 shingles to make an average-sized 9 kW system. In practice, you won’t have to worry about ordering a specific number of tiles since your installer will measure your roof and determine your system’s size and layout for you. Comparatively, you’d only need 21 Maxeon 6 panels to make a 9 kW system, as these each have an output of up to 420 W.

Overall, the Tesla Solar Roof has pretty lackluster performance specifications, but there’s a tradeoff. You can fit more shingles on your roof to make up some of the difference in production, and, in exchange, you get a product that looks more modern and sleeker than traditional panels.

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Tesla Solar Roof Durability

5/20

Whether you buy solar panels or solar shingles, you’re very likely going to spend upward of $20,000 (and probably much more than that for a Tesla Solar Roof), even after you consider solar tax credits and incentives. With such a massive investment that should bring you outstanding net savings over time,  it’s important to prioritize equipment that’s durable and will last long enough to make it worthwhile. It’s useful to break down the durability of solar equipment into two separate broad categories: electrical degradation and physical robustness. I’ll start with electrical degradation before discussing the Solar Roof’s physical durability.

There are a few key terms you should understand when it comes to solar equipment durability, which I’ll quickly break down below:

• First-year degradation rate: All solar technology loses efficiency over time, and how quickly a particular product degrades determines its useful life span and puts an upper limit on its lifetime savings potential. One quirk of solar technology degradation is that photovoltaic cells lose far more energy in the first year than they do in subsequent years, so we have to look at the degradation rate over the first year separately from the rate each year thereafter. We give perfect marks here to solar equipment with a degradation rate of 1% or lower and no points if the degradation rate is above 2% for the first year.
• Subsequent-year degradation rate: This tells you how much efficiency your PV equipment loses each year after the first year. The Solar Roof from Tesla and most solar panels have a 25-year warranty for production, which means the subsequent-year degradation will accumulate for 24 years after the first year. Lower degradation rates mean your panels will continue producing more power for longer, ultimately resulting in greater savings on electric bills over time. Panels and solar shingles need to have a degradation rate of 0.25% or less to get a perfect score.
• Wind rating: This metric tells you how much upward pressure your panels or shingles can handle, which really only applies to wind resistance. This number is typically expressed in Pascals (Pa), a unit measuring force, but without spec sheets from Tesla, we only have ratings from third parties, which aren’t in Pa. This is an important metric for homeowners in areas that are prone to hurricanes, tropical storms, and tornadoes, but it might not be a consideration for you, depending on your location. We compare panels based on the max wind load in Pascals, and a resistance of 3,000 Pa or higher gets a perfect score. That’s enough resistance to stand up to sustained wind speeds of around 156 mph.
• Hail rating: The hail rating tells you what size hailstones your PV equipment can reasonably stand up to without sustaining damage. Most solar panels don’t have a hail rating, but Tesla provides one for the Solar Roof. Again, this might not be an issue in your area.
• Fire rating: The fire rating of a building material tells you how resistant it is to catching fire. Most panels don’t include this metric, either, but Tesla provides it for the Solar Roof. All solar equipment will likely get damaged beyond repair in a house fire, but the resistance to catching fire is a big deal in areas that are prone to wildfires, like parts of California. In some municipalities, minimum fire ratings for roofing materials are set by local building codes, so this could be something you need to consider, depending on where you live.

The following is a quick look at the most important statistics and ratings for the Tesla Solar Roof:

• First-year degradation rate: 1.0% (actually 5% for the first five years — more on this below)
• Subsequent-year degradation rate: 0.5% per year
  • Wind rating: Class F: resists up to 110 mph sustained 
  • Hail rating: Class 4: resists up to two-inch hailstones
  • Fire rating: Class A

As you can see, the Solar Roof is physically durable but doesn’t have the best degradation statistics.

Tesla guarantees that its Solar Roof will maintain at least 95% of its rated peak power after the first five years of operation. This is unlike traditional solar panel warranties, which guarantee a specific percentage after just one year, so we can’t compare apples-to-apples with standard panels. However, we can assume a degradation rate of 1% per year for the first five years to make it easier to compare. With an effective first-year degradation rate of 1%, Tesla’s Solar Roof gets a perfect score here.

Panels with subsequent-year degradation rates of 0.25% or less score full points in our scoring system. This is, arguably, a more important metric than first-year degradation because even the best rates possible mean a 6% dip in efficiency over the entire warranty. The first-year degradation usually accounts for just 1.45%, although the time frame, of course, is much shorter.

The Solar Roof has a subsequent-year degradation rate of 0.5%, which is worse than you might think. For comparison, major solar panel manufacturers like REC, Qcells, Canadian Solar, Silfab, Maxeon, etc. have a subsequent-year degradation rate of 0.4% or lower. To put that in slightly different terms, Tesla’s Solar Roof loses efficiency more quickly than a solar panel from any other major brand.

So, what does that mean for you? A Tesla Solar Roof not only starts with significantly lower efficiency ratings, but it will lose its ability to generate power for your home more rapidly than most panels. That translates to lower savings in the long run, which is an even bigger issue with a Solar Roof, given the above-average cost.

Now, let’s move on to physical durability.

The Solar Roof is somewhat wind resistant. It has a Class F rating, which means that it can withstand sustained winds up to 110 mph. For comparison, a storm with a sustained wind speed of 111 to 129 mph is categorized as a category three hurricane, so a Solar Roof is not rated to withstand any hurricane-force winds. If you live in an area that sees hurricanes often, the Tesla Solar Roof is simply not for you.

Most solar panels use a max wind load rating to quantify their wind resistance. Max wind loads are usually measured in units of pressure called Pascals (Pa), with 5,400 Pa corresponding to wind speeds of 210 mph. The most durable solar panels, like those from Maxeon, Silfab, or REC — can withstand wind speeds of 200 mph or higher. And even less durable panels — like offerings from JA, Jinko Solar, or LONGi, have max wind loads of 2,400 Pa or greater. The Solar Roof’s equivalent max wind load is just 1,481 Pa, making it far less resistant to high winds than virtually every solar panel on the market.

If you want to explore how wind speed translates to max wind load ratings, you can use this handy online calculator.

The Solar Roof’s tiles have a class 4 hail rating, which means they can withstand 2-inch-diameter hail without sustaining major damage. Hail resistance is less important than wind resistance in most places, but severe hailstorms are becoming more common due to climate change. Even if hailstorms aren’t prevalent in most parts of the country, knowing that your Solar Roof can stand up to sizable hail offers some peace of mind. Hail resistance also suggests general impact resistance, so the greater the hail resistance, the more likely a panel or solar shingle is to stand up to a fallen tree branch or blown debris.

Unfortunately, Tesla doesn’t publish a maximum snow load rating, continuing its tradition of non-transparency. Snow load ratings tell you how much pressure your equipment can handle from above, which comes into play when you consider snow loads and, in the case of the Solar Roof, the weight of humans walking on your roof for maintenance or repairs. While there’s no specific top-load rating, the Solar Roof sits flush against your roof decking and only needs to resist crushing. It can stand up to humans walking on it (though, please, don’t walk on it yourself — it’s dangerous), so snow loads should never be an issue.

Even if a massive amount of snow was an issue in your area, anecdotal reports on forums like Reddit and the Tesla Motors Club discussion board suggest that snow slides off of the Solar Roof more quickly than it does off of a regular shingle roof, so you might never have to worry about significant enough loads accumulating over the shingles.

I dock points from the Tesla Solar Roof for not having accessible max snow load statistics, but you probably don’t have to worry about snow-related damage at all. This is especially true if your roof is inclined at more than 30°, as snow is unlikely to be able to accumulate enough to put significant strain on your solar shingles.

Tesla Solar Roof Warranty Coverage

11/20

Tesla offers a 25-year comprehensive warranty on its Solar Roofs. The warranty offers all-in-one coverage for the equipment and electrical system. It also includes a weatherization warranty that guarantees that your home won’t be damaged by “the passage of wind and rain through your solar roof.” The weatherization coverage also lasts for 25 years.

The following is a quick summary of the warranty you get with a Solar Roof:

• Equipment warranty term: 25 years
• Equipment warranty coverage: Materials, including tiles and electrical components
• Efficiency warranty term: 25 years
• Efficiency warranty coverage: 95% of initial efficiency remaining after five years and 85% remaining after 25 years

Tesla’s Solar Roof warranty lasts for 25 years, which is the standard warranty throughout the solar industry. The coverage you get is also standard, covering the Solar Roof itself but not any auxiliary equipment like rapid shut-down devices or inverters. If your Solar Roof uses inverters manufactured by Tesla, they’re covered by the separate Tesla Solar Inverter warranty.

I give Tesla seven out of 10 points for its equipment warranty period since 25 years is the standard. To receive full points in this section, it would have to offer an above-average equipment warranty for more than 30 years. Very few manufacturers provide this kind of coverage, with Maxeon being the most obvious standout at 40 years.

Our reasoning for this scoring scheme is related to the typical lifespan of an average home solar system. Most solar panel arrays last for 25 to 30 years, so having a warranty that covers the upper limit of that range is important if you want the peace of mind of knowing that your system will be covered for the duration of its expected lifetime. Companies that offer shorter warranties probably lack confidence in their products or installers, which makes me skeptical that I’ll get my money’s worth out of them before they experience a catastrophic failure.

It’s important to note that Tesla’s warranty doesn’t cover workmanship or any materials used by your installer during your installation, such as a roof underlayment. That means that any damage done to your roof by the third-party installer during your installation isn’t Tesla’s responsibility. If you’re concerned about this, make sure you ask your installer what labor coverage it provides before you agree to the installation. The labor warranty comes from your installer, and it can vary widely based on which installer you use. The average labor warranty in the industry for solar panels is around 10 years, so I’d recommend aiming for that for your Tesla Solar Roof, too.

I already touched on this in the previous section on durability, but it’s worth mentioning again here. The Solar Roof has poor degradation rates compared to most mainstream residential solar panels, scoring the lowest of any panel I’ve reviewed for both the subsequent-year degradation rate. Tesla’s warranty only guarantees 95% efficiency after five years and 85% efficiency after 25 years. For comparison, Maxeon guarantees that its panels will maintain 98% of their starting efficiency after one year, 92% after 25 years, and 87.5% after 40 years. When you consider that Maxeon’s panels also come with higher starting efficiencies than the Solar Roof — up to 22.8% compared to the Solar Roof’s efficiency of between 8% and 14% — the difference in performance is striking, both up-front and over time.

The bottom line is that the warranty you get with a Tesla Solar Roof is good but not great. It covers the bare minimum of what I consider acceptable from a high-quality solar company. Even though it offers a 25-year equipment and production warranty, the production guarantees aren’t the best, especially compared to what you’ll get from most solar panel manufacturers.

Tesla Solar Roof Cost

0/20

If you’ve done research on other solar equipment and installers, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that Tesla doesn’t publish pricing information for its Solar Roof on its website. Most companies aren’t willing to provide pricing without a detailed inspection of your home. Part of the reason for Tesla not including costs is that Solar Roof installations are handled by third-party installers, so the cost of a Solar Roof varies by location and installer. While I understand that labor costs vary depending on where you live, not publishing at least ballpark statistics is frustrating for potential customers.

Without official cost information to go by, I compiled costs from third-party sources, using forum discussions to arrive at a ballpark estimate of the cost of a Solar Roof. My research suggests that a Solar Roof costs between $6.00 and $8.00 per watt. For an average-size 9-kilowatt system, that means that a Solar Roof will cost you between $54,000 and $72,000.

That’s a lot of money, no matter how you slice it, but it’s also a lot of money compared to the price of a regular solar panel system. The average cost of a nine-kilowatt solar system in the U.S. is $29,970 before incentives, according to our research, which is less than half of the cost of a Solar Roof even if you use the lower end of the price range. The most expensive solar panels — made by Maxeon — cost $4.00 per watt, which comes out to $36,000 for a nine-kilowatt system before any incentives. That’s still just two-thirds of the cost of a Solar Roof if you use the most conservative estimate.

All of that analysis boils down to mean that Solar Roofs are expensive. I would be more forgiving of the exorbitant costs if the Solar Roof provided some type of practical benefit over solar panels. The truth is that the only real advantage you get from a Solar Roof is that it looks more like a regular shingle roof. If looks are important to you, that’s fine, but you’re going to have to pay at least one-and-a-half times as much as you would for a solar panel system.

You can check out the video below for a different take on whether a Solar Roof is worth it.

Speaking of pricing out your system, now is a good time to mention that a Solar Roof pairs well with Tesla’s Powerwall batteries, and, based on the Tesla website, it seems like you have to order Powerwalls if you want a solar roof installed.

Solar batteries let you store any excess energy your Solar Roof produces so that you can use it later. This helps you save money over time since you can still benefit from solar energy even when your panels aren’t generating electricity, such as at night or on overcast days.

Powerwall batteries can also act as emergency backups by providing energy during power outages. If you’re interested in using Powerwalls for backup power during blackouts, you’ll have to decide how many to add to your system. I have two Powerwall batteries in my own home, and I can run essential appliances like my refrigerator and water heater for about two weeks when both batteries are fully charged and aren’t receiving any additional input from my panels. In reality, the Powerwall has an islanding inverter that allows my panels to charge them even during blackout conditions, which means I can effectively maintain power indefinitely through power outages.

Whether or not I recommend purchasing Powerwall batteries — or any solar batteries, for that matter — depends on whether you have a net metering program in your area. Net metering programs, also called net energy metering (NEM) programs, let you route any extra electricity your solar system produces back to the power grid for credits. You can use those credits to pull electricity from the grid later at no cost. The idea is very similar to using a battery to store extra energy. If you have one-to-one net metering, your utility company essentially acts as a battery. You benefit from overproduction when the sun is shining and use net metering credits to pull free energy from the grid when your system is underproducing.

Unfortunately, the trend throughout the U.S. is to reduce the rate that utility companies have to credit you for the electricity your solar system generates. In the past, most net metering programs would credit you at the same rate they charged you for electricity. Recently, states like California have been reducing the rate you get for your electricity. California moved from NEM 2.0 to NEM 3.0 last year, reducing the rate of compensation for solar-produced electricity to 75% of what it used to be.

Many states look to California when setting their own net metering policies, as they did when it first adopted NEM 2.0 years ago, so it’s likely that more states will continue to follow California’s example and start making their net metering programs less beneficial to homeowners. If you live in a state that already has a reduced — or non-existent — net metering program, then adding solar batteries to your Solar Roof makes sense.

And here’s the problem: With NEM programs on the decline, the total cost to convert to solar to offset your consumption 100% is soaring. Equipment prices for panels have dropped steadily over the past decade, but now more and more homeowners need batteries to maximize the value of their solar array and even to see net savings at all in some cases. Powerwalls cost around $9,300 each, according to Tesla’s website, and most homeowners will need two, in my experience, to store enough power to stand in for a NEM program from their utility company.

This added cost, which is becoming more of a necessity and less of a luxury, is an even harder pill to swallow if you install a Solar Roof that already costs two or more times what an equivalent system of panels would total.

Potential Savings

Even though a Solar Roof is one of the most expensive ways to transition your home to renewable energy, it still has the potential to save you money in the long run. The average American home saves $31,513 by switching to solar energy over the life span of their solar system. Importantly, those savings are above and beyond the initial cost of a solar system, which is $29,970 before incentives, on average.

When you consider that a Solar Roof will cost you $54,000 instead of $29,970, it becomes clear that your lifetime potential savings change when you choose a Solar Roof over a traditional solar panel system. The additional $25,000 you spend on your Solar Roof comes out of your potential lifetime savings, bringing it down to just over $6,500. Of course, if your system lasts longer than 25 years, your savings increase, but the point is that you will save less with a Solar Roof than you will with solar panels because the up-front cost of a Solar Roof is so much higher.

I already discussed net metering in the previous section, but it’s worth reiterating here. Net metering programs allow you to route the extra electricity you use back to the grid for a credit. Originally, net metering programs stipulated that your utility company had to pay you at the same rate it charged you for electricity, but that isn’t the case anymore. However, states like California have already reduced their net metering rates, making it less beneficial for homeowners to have systems that produce more energy than they use.

If you live in a state with a net metering program, it’s a good idea to purchase a solar system and sign up for net metering sooner rather than later. Many states are moving to less favorable net metering programs that reduce how much you get paid for the excess energy your solar system produces above and beyond what you use, but customers who sign up before the rate decreases get grandfathered in at the current rate.

If you’re unlucky enough to live somewhere that doesn’t have a net metering program, you’ll likely have to install solar batteries if you want to take advantage of the extra electricity your Solar Roof produces. Powerwall batteries cost $9,300 for one or $17,500 for two before any incentives (more on that later). While adding Powerwalls to your Solar Roof increases the up-front costs, it also helps you save money in the long run by taking full advantage of your system’s power production capacity.

You can save some money by installing a different solar battery alongside your Solar Roof. Tesla’s Powerwalls are solid options, but they’re also quite expensive. The typical price of a solar battery, according to my research, falls between $6,000 and $18,000, depending on the capacity you need and the brand you choose.

Tesla Financing Options

Tesla allows you to pay for your Solar Roof in full up-front with cash or finance your purchase with a loan. Terms and rates vary, but the bottom line is that you don’t have to pay for your system up-front.

I’m a fan of solar loans because they make expensive solar technology like the Solar Roof more accessible. There aren’t many people who can drop $50,000 or more in cash on a home solar system, so having financing available directly through Tesla makes things much easier.

Solar loans are better than other financing options like leases or power purchase agreements (PPAs) because they lead to panel ownership. Owning your solar system is important for two reasons. First, you’re only eligible for solar tax credits and incentives if you own your solar system. Leases and PPAs don’t lead to panel ownership, so you can’t claim solar tax credits if you finance through a lease or enter into a PPA.

Second, if you decide to sell your home, owning your panels means you get the value your solar panels add to your home back. In many cases, you recover a large fraction of the initial price you paid for your system as long as it’s still in good shape and not too near the end of its life.

Another reason I prefer solar loans to solar leases or PPAs is the savings potential they provide. I said before that paying in cash gives you an average savings of $31,513 over your system’s lifetime. If you take out a loan to pay for your system instead of paying cash, you accrue about $5,000 in interest over the length of the loan, depending on your specific terms. That lowers your savings potential to just over $26,000.

Leases, on the other hand, limit your lifetime savings to just $5,000. That means that you’re leaving $21,000 on the table if you opt to lease your solar system instead of financing it with a loan. PPAs are even worse, limiting your total savings to around $4,000 on average. These numbers are for standard solar panel systems and not specifically for solar shingles, but the trend for the Solar Roof is the same: cash saves the most and is the most beneficial, followed by solar loans. Leases and PPAs should be a last resort, in my opinion.

Tesla doesn’t offer leases or PPAs, so you can only pay for a Solar Roof in cash or via a loan, but I wanted to mention the general financing options available for the solar industry in case you decide to go with a regular solar panel system instead of a Solar Roof.

How Can You Save Money on Tesla Solar Roof?

The best way to save money on a Solar Roof is to take advantage of the federal investment tax credit (ITC). The federal ITC lets you reduce your federal income tax burden by 30% of the cost of your solar system for the year when you have it installed. For a $54,000 Solar Roof, that’s an effective savings of $16,200. Taking the tax credit brings the cost range for a Solar Roof down to between $37,800 and $50,400. That’s still quite expensive, but it makes the post-credit cost of a Solar Roof comparable to an expensive solar panel array pre-credit.

It’s worth pointing out that the federal ITC applies to the total cost of your system. That means that additional solar equipment like batteries, for example, count toward the 30%. If you think you might want to add batteries down the line, you should seriously consider purchasing them when you purchase your panels or Solar Roof. If you install them later, they won’t be eligible for the ITC because you can only take it once.

The federal solar tax credit decreases to 26% in 2033 and 22% in 2034 before expiring in 2035, so now is the time to go solar before the credit disappears.

Some states offer similar tax credits that apply to your state income tax, which offer additional options for saving on a Tesla Solar Roof or a traditional panel array. The easiest way to learn about state-level tax credits is to ask your solar installer, but you can also peruse the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE) yourself.

Tesla Solar Roof Performance Based on Location

0/10 

We have already talked about how weather, such as snow and wind, can affect your solar roof, but temperature also has an impact on your system’s performance. All solar panel systems lose efficiency when it’s hot outside. Electrical resistance increases with temperature, which means more of the electricity your system produces gets lost in transmission. The end result, and the part that matters to you, is that your solar system will produce less energy in extremely hot weather.

How much energy a solar system loses depends on its temperature coefficient. The temperature coefficient tells you how much energy your system loses per degree Celsius above 25°C (77°F) the ambient temperature. Most solar panel manufacturers publish their panels’ temperature coefficients in spec sheets.

A concrete example will help make things clearer: Maxeon panels have a temperature coefficient of -0.27%/°C. That means that for every 1°C above 25°C, they lose 0.27% efficiency on a temporary basis (this is different from degradation). To make things even clearer, let’s assume that one particularly hot day reached 35°C (95°F). A Maxeon panel will lose 10°C * -0.27%/°C = -2.7% efficiency. That might not sound like a lot, but if you live somewhere that regularly sees temperatures climb to 95°F, you’ll consistently lose almost 3% of its capacity for power generation. And keep in mind that panels are all black and exposed to direct sunlight, so the panel temperature is almost always well above the outside temperature. Over the course of a year, that can really add up and reduce your overall savings.

You might wonder why I used Maxeon in the example instead of the Solar Roof. The reason is because — once again — Tesla doesn’t publish information about the Solar Roof’s temperature coefficient. When Tesla used to make its own solar panels, they had temperature coefficients in the -0.34%/°C to -0.331%/°C range. Those numbers are on the high side, which suggests that Tesla’s photovoltaic technology is more sensitive to temperature than Maxeon’s equipment, for example. While that doesn’t necessarily mean anything about the temperature coefficient of the Solar Roof, it gives a point of comparison.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Tesla’s lack of transparency makes it difficult to compare its products to similar products from other solar companies. I would like to see Tesla release more information about its Solar Roof to help prospective customers decide if it’s worth the tradeoffs compared to a regular solar panel installation.

Tesla Solar Roof Sustainability

1.875/2.5

Tesla, as a company, is committed to practicing sustainability. The company’s Gigafactories are designed to reduce environmental impacts, with the Berlin factory running on 100% renewable as of 2023. Tesla estimates that its electric vehicles and solar panels helped avoid more than 20 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

None of those things address the sustainability of the Solar Roof in particular, but Tesla’s sustainability report clearly paints a picture of a company that cares about the environment and does what it can to reduce emissions. We grade companies for sustainability largely based on whether they use recycled materials in their photovoltaic designs and whether or not they have an end-of-life program that makes it easy to dispose of old solar technology responsibly. Tesla, as far as my research revealed, doesn’t have any end-of-life (EoL) program for its Solar Roof and if it uses recycled material to manufacture its solar roofs, it doesn’t make that information available anywhere. However, the report from Tesla does show the use of recycled materials across all products, as well as EoL programs for its Powerwalls and other products. There’s no reason to believe these don’t also apply to the Solar Roof.

Tesla manufactures its solar roofs in its New York Gigafactory, which gives it some points in this category. The solar industry has problems with sustainability throughout its supply chains, and tracking those supply chains is much easier for companies that manufacture products in the United States. To that end, Tesla provides supply chain information in its sustainability report, which helps keep its efforts in check.

Overall, Tesla is committed to sustainability, so I give the company nearly full marks despite the lack of information about a Solar Roof recycling program or its use of recycled materials in manufacturing Solar Roofs. 

The only major drawback here is that Tesla was involved in a lawsuit for ongoing racism in its factories. Tesla went to trial and ultimately, the jury sided with the plaintiffs. We take social sustainability just as seriously as environmental sustainability, so we did dock points in this category.

Tesla Solar Roof Appearance

2.5/2.5

I think that Tesla’s Solar Roof — and other solar shingle systems — blow ordinary solar panels out of the water in terms of appearance. However, I generally don’t think that appearance matters as much as efficiency, durability, or cost, so this category is only worth two-and-a-half points. That means that the Solar Roof’s main advantage doesn’t come through much in the numbers we use in our scoring system. That might sound like a deficiency of the scoring system, but I actually think it’s working as I intended by putting less emphasis on the things we believe aren’t as important overall.

I give the Solar Roof full points in this section, but I also give SunPower’s solar panels, for example, full marks. That doesn’t mean that I think SunPower’s panels are as aesthetically pleasing as Tesla’s Solar Roof, only that up to how much appearance matters the two options are about equivalent.

If you want to transition to solar power and can’t stand the way regular solar panels look, then a Solar Roof is pretty much your only option. Other companies like SunTegra and Luma offer solar shingles, but they’re not competitive with Tesla’s Solar Roof (yet).

Tesla Solar Roof Comparison

Here’s a table that compares Tesla’s Solar Roof with two leading panel manufacturers. Keep in mind that all tier-one panels outperform solar shingles in all categories. While this isn’t a totally fair comparison, I do believe that it paints the picture of whether or not the Solar Roof from Tesla is something you want to consider for your own home.

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Does Tesla Make Any Other Solar Products?

Tesla also makes electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and Powerwall batteries. Tesla’s EV chargers are designed to work with the company’s lineup of EVs, but you can use them to charge EVs from other manufacturers if you use an adapter.

Powerwalls are Tesla’s take on solar energy storage. They integrate seamlessly with the Solar Roof and the Tesla app, but they can also be added to any solar panel system. Many Tesla dealers install Powerwall batteries, but you can also purchase them directly from Tesla through the company’s Powerwall direct program.

The Tesla Powerwall has a capacity of 13.5 kWh, which is a standard size that serves most households well. The Powerwall comes with some nice features, like automatic storm detection that sets itself to maximize storage when it thinks you might experience a power outage. It also lets you customize its settings to either maximize storage or savings, depending on your preference and the type of electricity plan you have.

Tesla used to make its own solar panels but now primarily installs QCells panels. You might find outdated information on the internet about Tesla solar panels, but don’t let that confuse you. As of this writing, Tesla’s only residential photovoltaic product that generates electricity is its Solar Roof.

Who is Tesla Solar Roof Best for?

There’s no easy way to put this: Tesla’s Solar Roof is only a solid option for you if you value looks above everything else. A Solar Roof is more expensive and less durable than a traditional solar panel system, and it will take you between two and three times as long to break even if you purchase a Solar Roof instead of a traditional solar panel array. Additionally, your savings are going to be significantly lower over time due to that higher up-front cost and lower performance.

If you can’t stand the way solar panels look and are dead set against them, then you might want to consider going with a Solar Roof. I have a hard time recommending the Solar Roof because of how much more expensive it is, but if you have the budget, it’s a good option for boosting your home’s efficiency and saving some money over time if you can’t stand the look of solar panels. Tesla’s warranty on its Solar Roof is decent but not great, but it should cover you at least until your system pays for itself.

I should also mention that a Solar Roof is not a great option for you if you live somewhere that is prone to strong winds since it’s not rated to withstand sustained winds over 110 mph. The most durable solar panels, like those from REC, for example, can withstand winds over 200 mph, making them a much better choice if you live somewhere that gets hit by hurricanes, tropical storms, or tornadoes.

What’s Next? 

If you know that you want a Solar Roof, your next step is to contact your local Tesla dealer. Tesla uses third-party installers to install its Solar Roofs, so you’ll have to coordinate with whatever local contractors Tesla uses for its Solar Roof installations. You can get the process started on Tesla’s website.

If you’re not sure whether or not a Solar Roof is for you, I recommend reading some of our reviews of other solar providers. We have a SunPower review that covers the company as a whole, as well as a specific look at SunPower vs Tesla. Or, if you need a higher-level overview of solar as a whole, check out our overview of the best solar companies.

I also encourage you to use our solar savings calculator to get a sense of how much you could save by switching to solar power. Having a good idea of what you should pay and what you can save is the best way to avoid getting taken advantage of by unscrupulous solar salespeople.

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