Tesla completes the first installation of its solar roofs

Tesla last year introduced solar tiles that looked similar to the traditional roofing materials. The design was aimed to encourage people to adopt renewable energy without changing the aesthetics of their homes. The company started taking pre-orders for the solar roof installations, this May, for a payment of $1,000 (₹63,000 approximately). While the deliveries are expected to start by end of this year or early 2018, Tesla earlier this week revealed that the first installations of its solar roofs have been completed.

These installations have been made on homes of a few Tesla employees, including the founder Elon Musk. During a call with investors, Elon Musk reportedly said that the first phase of installations will be relatively slow. Later, the production will be increased while the overall process will be scaled up. He further said the initial installations will help the company improve the quality of solar roofs. The company also shared pictures of one such house with the solar roofs installed.

"This is version one," he was quoted as saying. "I think this roof's going to look really knockout as we just keep iterating."

It is worth noting that Tesla, before rolling out commercial units of its products, tends to test it with its own employees. The company reportedly delivered first batches of Model 3s to Tesla employees before the official roll out. At the moment, there's no word on the exact date for the commercial roll out of these solar tiles.

Tesla claims that its solar roof tiles are three times stronger than conventional roofing glass. In a bid to encourage people to adopt the solar tiles, the company is offering a warranty till "lifetime of your house or infinity, or whichever comes first." Tesla's solar tiles come with Class 4 ANSI FM 4473 for hail rating, Class F ASTM D3161 for the wind, and Class A UL 790 for fire.

Tesla is also offering a Powerwall for homes. "We recommend that every Solar Roof be installed with a Powerwall battery to enable you to use more of the solar power your roof produces and keep your home running during a grid outage. In states that do not have Net Energy Metering policies, we estimate and recommend a number of Powerwalls that will enable you to realize the full benefit of the energy your Solar Roof produces," Tesla explains on its website.