Tesla Discontinues Solar Roof After Years of Cost and Scaling Problems

Tesla is ending its Solar Roof tile program nearly a decade after introducing the product, which combined residential roofing and solar generation in a single system. The company has removed prominent references to Solar Roof from its website, while its former Solar Roof page now directs visitors toward conventional solar panels.

Electrek first reported the discontinuation, citing two sources close to the program who said Tesla informed certified third-party installers that Solar Roof tiles would no longer be available to order. One source told the publication that Tesla had concluded the product was not financially viable.

Tesla Solar Roof struggled to reach scale

Tesla introduced the Solar Roof concept in 2016, presenting glass roof tiles designed to generate electricity without the appearance of conventional rooftop solar panels. The product was aimed largely at homeowners replacing a roof who wanted solar generation integrated directly into the roofing material.

The company once targeted production and installations at a scale of 1,000 Solar Roofs per week. That level of adoption never arrived. Data cited by Electrek from Wood Mackenzie estimated that Tesla reached only about 21 to 32 installations per week at its peak and installed roughly 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the U.S. over about seven years.

Cost became another significant obstacle. Tesla initially marketed Solar Roof by comparing its price to the combined cost of replacing a conventional roof and installing separate solar panels. Installed prices, however, rose substantially, and Tesla increased prices for some customers in 2021 after contracts had already been signed.

A resulting class-action lawsuit was settled for $6 million in 2023, according to Electrek. In one reported case, the price of a Solar Roof project increased from about $72,000 to approximately $146,000 before installation.

Owners also reported performance concerns

Some Solar Roof owners publicly documented problems with their systems. Discussions on the Tesla Motors Club forum included concerns involving Solar Roof underlayment, along with reports from customers who said their systems generated less electricity than expected.

One owner described a Solar Roof as underperforming by at least 20%, while another forum discussion described substantial underperformance. These individual reports do not establish the extent of the problems or identify a single technical cause, but they illustrate some of the concerns raised by customers using the product.

The specialised design also made Solar Roof fundamentally different from conventional solar panels. Standard panels benefit from enormous manufacturing volumes and broadly standardised designs, whereas Tesla’s roof tiles require a product and installation system developed specifically for Solar Roof. That made achieving high installation volumes particularly important to the program’s economics.

Integrated solar roofing is not disappearing

Tesla’s withdrawal does not mean the broader idea of building solar generation directly into roofs is finished. GAF Energy continues to offer its Timberline Solar roofing system, while Merlin Solar markets integrated and low-profile solar products for roofing applications.

For Tesla, however, the residential solar strategy is now centred on conventional rooftop panels paired with products such as Powerwall. The Solar Roof remains a notable example of an ambitious Tesla product that reached customers but never approached the installation volumes the company originally envisioned.