Elon Musk claims Tesla’s solar roof will cost less than a regular roof

Tesla CEO Elon Musk says his company’s solar roof will cost less than a regular roof. And no, we’re not just talking about the long-term effects that come into play with producing your own energy via the roof. Musk says the upfront cost will be less, both when it comes to manufacturing and installing the roof. Musk was quoted in a Bloomberg report saying this after Tesla shareholders approve the acquisition of Solar City. He says electricity is now “just a bonus.”

But don’t expect these to be dirt cheap. These will still come at a premium price (which we don’t know yet). The terra cotta and slate roofs Tesla mimicked are considered among the most expensive roofing materials on the market—sometimes costing as much as 20 times more than cheap asphalt shingles. The cost savings though might be seen in the shipping of the materials. These new tempered-glass roof tiles are said to weigh as little as a fifth of current products and are easier to ship.

Tesla announces full self-driving hardware on all cars being produced

Yesterday's big Tesla news was that, "all Tesla vehicles produced in our factory – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver."

This means that Teslas will now feature, "eight surround cameras provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of both hard and soft objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system. A forward-facing radar with enhanced processing provides additional data about the world on a redundant wavelength, capable of seeing through heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead."

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Elon Musk announces Oct. 28 release date for SolarCity solar roof

We’ll most likely be seeing for the first time Tesla and SolarCity’s new solar roof product on October 28, if Elon Musk’s tweet is anything to go by. The Tesla founder and CEO just announced on social media that this solar roof will be working with version 2.0 of Tesla’s PowerWall solar storage and battery for the home as well as with the Tesla car charger. This integration is seen as moving beyond showing off how these companies can seamlessly work together to showing Musk’s “Master Plan: Part Deux,” where he aims to create a fully self-sustaining solar-powered energy ecosystem that is linked to his zero emission goals between home and transportation.

Tesla is in the process of acquiring SolarCity but it has been facing opposition from shareholders that could cause a delay in the deal. The demo, which could show the value of the system and the partnership, might further Musk’s plans and help soften any opposition to his plans to join Tesla and SolarCity together.

Aiming for Oct 28 unveil in SF Bay Area of new Tesla/SolarCity solar roof with integrated Powerwall 2.0 battery and Tesla charger.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 22, 2016

Source: TechCrunch

Elon Musk says Tesla minibus and semi truck to be unveiled next year

Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk gave a more specific timetable for the company’s recently announced plans to create an electric semi truck and minibus.  Musk said during the investor call for the release of its second quarter earnings, the new vehicles will be unveiled in early to mid-2017. “We expect to unveil those for the middle of next year, maybe the next six to nine months type of thing. And then [we’d] have a better, more fleshed-out plan for when those would enter production,” Musk said.

It seems to be so sudden for these vehicles to come out but Musk has said the bus will be built using the Model X’s architecture. They could already have working prototypes to build on for this. The semi truck is something new though so we’re curious to see how they plan to do that. After revealing said vehicles, Musk said both vehicles “would enter production within low-single digit years.”

Source: The Verge