Tesla has decided to expand the market for solar roof tile installations to anywhere in the US.
The move comes as Tesla aims to greatly accelerate solar roof installations.
Until recently, Tesla solar roof installations were limited to some approved markets in the US within a relatively short distance of Tesla Energy warehouses.
It has been limiting the growth of the product that aims to offer an alternative to regular solar panels, which is still the bulk of Tesla’s solar business.
Now sources familiar with the matter told Electrek that Tesla opened installations of the solar roof tiles to “any customer anywhere in the US.”
Anyone can submit an order regardless of their distance from a Tesla Energy warehouse, and the company will have the capacity to send travel installation crews to the location.
However, Tesla will send people to survey the houses prior to going forward with any project in order to make sure the structures are good candidates for solar roof tiles.
The company has been known for prioritizing projects with simpler roofs.
As we previously reported, Tesla significantly increased the price of the solar roof tiles earlier this year after introducing a new “roof complexity factor.”
The expectation was that the price increase had put a dent in Tesla’s solar roof tile demand.
When Tesla ended its referral program last month, the company ended it for almost all products, including vehicles and solar panels, but it decided to keep it for solar roof tiles, which actually saw an increase in referral award to $500.
It showed that the company was still trying to drive demand for the product.
Now a source familiar with the matter told Electrek that Tesla aims for solar roof tiles to surpass its solar panel installation business by the end of next year.
Over the last few quarters, Tesla has been deploying around 90 MW of solar power every quarter, but the company doesn’t disclose the mix between solar panels and solar roof tiles.
Tesla only noted this about solar roof deployment in its latest earnings:
“Solar Roof deployments grew substantially both YoY as well as sequentially in Q2.”
The company has also been certifying third-party roofing companies to install the solar roof tiles, which has been helping deployment.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
