Tesla appears to have achieved the milestone of producing 1000 solar glass tile roofs a week from its New York gigafactory, according to a Tweet posted by the company over the weekend in the US.
The Tweet, which won an instant congratulations from the boss, Elon Musk, said the Buffalo-based “Giga New York” had “built 4MW of solar roof” in the week ending Sunday March 15 – enough, it said, for up to 1000 homes.
The achievement puts the factory at a production level Musk had predicted it would reach by the end of 2019 – so only a few months late.
But the news has been received with a healthy dose of scepticism, both on Twitter and in the news media, with some questioning the origin of the solar tiles, and others questioning Tesla’s maths.
“Really? 4kW system enough for a home? No.” said one person on Twitter.
Really? 4kW system enough for a home? No.
— ???? ???????????????????? (@ex_Tesla) March 15, 2020
And in the US edition of PV Magazine, Eric Wesoff noted that of the Tesla solar roof tile installations taking place around the San Francisco Bay Area, the boxes of shingles had mostly come from Changzhou, China, and not the factory in New York
Wesoff also claimed that the solar roof-tile installs the magazine had been tracking were taking 10 days to two weeks to install and requiring a team of five to six people — with additional people brought in to install storage and electrics.
In Australia, the solar tiles are open for orders – or reservation – through the website, but with no deposit required, no quote (immediately) given, and no word of when delivery might be.
As we clarified on One Step last month, Tesla’s solar roof is distinct from its rooftop solar panel systems in that it is an entire roof made up of solar glass tiles – a novel and relatively untested product which Musk last year declared would take off “like kelp on steroids.”
The button to order these in Australia sits right next to the button to order solar panels, but pressing it appears to result in more of a reservation than an order, and a vague assurance that Tesla will “reach out” when the solar roof becomes available in your area.
This has not stopped Australian Tesla fans from ordering it, however, and we look forward to seeing the first official installation on local shores.
In the meantime, Australian customers can, actually, order Tesla solar panels for a $100 deposit, with a choice between a small 3.8kW system, a medium 7.6kW system or a large 11.4kW system.
Sophie is editor of One Step Off The Grid and editor of its sister site, Renew Economy. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
