Gadgetory

you can now buy a Tesla solar roof to have it installed this year and it may cost you less than a normal roof in the long run what makes Tesla's solar roof tiles so interesting is that these textured glass tiles look like traditional building materials with the solar cell hidden inside but you don't need every tile on your roof to be solar a typical home what over a mix of solar and Cheaper normal tiles that match depend on how much Sun you get you may only need about 35% of the roof to be solar for it to be cost-effective now ask for pricing it turns out you don't have to be a rich man to fiddle with Tesla's roof the price of a single solar tile is 42 dollars and the price of a normal tile is 11 dollars Tesla is saying that this is cheaper than a normal asphalt shingle roof when you consider the amount of electricity that you be generating over 30 years to offset the net cost using data from consumer reports it says it could cost an average of 22 dollars a square foot and that's not counting any tax rebates or other incentives you can get for going solar of course you should do your own number crunching based on your location your building codes how much Sun you get and your energy consumption Tesla's website does have a solar roof calculator to help you with that also keep in mind you're going to need a tesla powerwall battery to store all the energy those tiles are collecting that can be $7,000 Tesla will be raising its roofs this summer but only some tile designs are available now next year it's going to begin installations for customers outside the US I'm Bridget Carey and if all of this went over your head well you can read a more detailed breakdown at cnet.com