Tesla is ready to start taking deposits for its stunning solar roof tiles. The company will begin taking orders next month, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said via Twitter. Tesla hasn’t disclosed detailed pricing on the tiles, but that would presumably become clear when people start putting down deposits. Installations will begin in mid 2017.
The roof tiles are made of textured glass. From most viewing angles, they look just like ordinary shingles, but they allow light to pass through from above onto a standard flat solar cell. The plan is for Panasonic to produce the solar cells at Tesla’s factory in Buffalo and for Tesla to put together the glass tiles and everything that goes along with them.
The solar tiles are likely to be a premium product: the terra cotta and slate roofs are among the most expensive roofing materials on the market —costing as much as 20 times more than cheap asphalt shingles.