Tesla Quietly Updated Its Timeline on When You Can Get a Solar Roof
The company's website offers a vital clue about when customers can expect installations to begin.
When Tesla announced earlier this year it would be offering solar-powered roofs, the plan was for installations to begin in June. Now more than a month removed from when the first roofs were meant to go up, the company has been cagey about what the current timeline is.
We already know about at least two solar roofs that have been installed. Tesla head Elon Musk revealed in last week’s company earnings call that he and another company executive have the new roofs atop their homes.
As confirmed by the company to Inverse, several trial installations have been tested in different climate locations. Once those tests are complete, the company will open up installations to non-employees. Site-specific surveys and designs were created in June, and installations have since begun.
The Tesla solar roof.
But that still leaves unclear just what is going on with customer installations. This is where the company website may hold a clue. Here’s how one section of Tesla’s solar roof FAQ page read as recently as July 2.
When will my Solar Roof be installed?
Solar Roof installations are expected to begin in June 2017 in certain regions of the U.S. As we continue to ramp production, we will begin deliveries internationally. Solar Roof will be installed based on your order queue position when Solar Roof is ready for your region.
That information wasn’t necessarily changed in early July. That’s just when the Internet Archive most recently took a snapshot of the page. At some point since, though, the answer to that question was altered. The rest of the FAQ page remained the same.
When will my Solar Roof be installed?
Initial trial installations are complete and undergoing evaluation, customer installations are about to start and will ramp up through 2017. As we continue to ramp production, we will begin deliveries internationally. Solar Roof will be installed based on your order queue position when Solar Roof is ready for your region.
Technically speaking, there doesn’t have to be a contradiction between those two answers. The first version may strictly refer to trial installations beginning in June, even if the reference to “my solar roof” in the question does imply the subject is customer installations — and it’s definitely possible that was the original plan. As for when installations for non-employees will begin, the new answer suggests the answer is sometime soon, though whether that’s a matter of weeks or a matter of months is uncertain.
