Elon Musk, Tesla CEO & SolarCity Chairman, Reveals Plans To Release Solar Roofs

Elon Musk reportedly announced on an earnings call on Tuesday night that SolarCity plans to release a solar roof.

Elon Musk Reveals SolarCity Plans To Release Solar Roofs

“It’s a solar roof as opposed to a module on a roof,” Musk admitted on the SolarCity earnings call. “It’s not a thing on the roof, it is the roof.”

SolarCity would be able to sell an entire roof itself with solar power tools built into it, rather than just installing a solar panel on an existing roof, contributing to a new market.

“If your roof is nearing end-of-life, well, you’ve got to get a new roof anyway,” Musk explained. “And so, why not have a solar roof that’s better in many other ways as well?”

Tesla made a $2.6 billion bid to buy SolarCity this month to merge two of Musk’s businesses into an “integrated sustainable energy company.”

In Musk’s “Master Plan” article written to Tesla’s website last month, in which he outlined future innovations, the Tesla CEO first teased his long-term plan to build “stunning solar roofs” with SolarCity’s technology and have them integrated with Tesla’s home battery storage technology.

“Solar and battery go together like peanut butter and jelly,” Musk added on the call.

However, both Tesla and SolarCity are reportedly losing money. SolarCity’s net loss grew to $250 million in the second quarter from $156 million in the same period the previous year, while Tesla’s losses for the second quarter rose to $150 million.