Tesla To Sell Solar Roof Tiles That Can Power A Home
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Tesla will soon begin selling solar roof tiles that are designed to look like a traditional roof and have the potential to power a home.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted early Wednesday that ordering would begin later in the day.
Musk said the tiles will be sold worldwide. They'll go to U.S. customers first this year and to other countries next year. He gave no other details.
Palo Alto-based Tesla, which makes electric cars, announced last fall that it would produce the tiles with solar power company SolarCity Corp. Tesla and SolarCity completed a merger in November.
The glass tiles are designed to look like a traditional roof, with options that replicate slate or terracotta tiles. They contain photovoltaic cells that Tesla says are invisible from the street.
The energy from the tiles can power a home when combined with Tesla's Powerwall energy storage unit.
This comes after last month's news that Musk's Hawthorne-based SpaceX company is working on an ambitious plan to move Los Angeles' traffic underground. His plan includes platforms that act like elevators carrying the cars to an underground series of tunnels. As part of the project, Musk unveiled a tunnel-digging machine outside SpaceX.
In December, Musk said that Los Angeles' transportation issues had inspired him to launch a firm — the Boring Company – that would focus on traffic-alleviating underground tunnels.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
