Aug 24 (Reuters) – Tesla has stopped selling premium solar roof tiles on its website, nearly a decade after CEO Elon Musk launched the product as a more attractive alternative to panels.
• Tesla’s solar roof url now redirects to a solar panels offering.
• Discontinuation of the product was first reported by Electrek last week.
• Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Musk unveiled the roof tiles in 2016 as Tesla sought to acquire SolarCity, the solar installer run by his cousins.
• The company in 2021 had targeted 1,000 installations per week, but industry estimates said the actual figure was far less.
• Tesla’s solar strategy has shifted to traditional panels, which it produces at its factory in Buffalo, New York, and began delivering to residential customers this year.
• Musk still has big ambitions in solar. Tesla filed plans in Texas this month for a $10.1 billion solar-cell factory outside Houston that would create 9,712 permanent jobs.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Mark Porter)
