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Tesla Ends Solar Roof, Shifts to Panels
Coverage from Pulse2, Electrek, and others
Tesla has discontinued its Solar Roof tiles and redirected certified installers toward conventional rooftop solar panels, after roughly 3,000 U.
S. installations over about seven years. The withdrawal leaves contractors managing canceled or converted projects and raises questions about replacement parts, repair costs, and long-term support for existing systems, while conventional solar and Powerwall products remain available.
If you read one thing
It provides the clearest overall account of Tesla’s Solar Roof exit, weak deployment, financial problems, and continued conventional solar strategy.
Best explainer
It explains how high installation costs, labor-intensive design, and limited scale made the Solar Roof economically unviable.
The evidence
It adds contractor-based evidence about stranded investments, project cancellations, and long-term warranty and service risks.
Solar Roof exit and shift to conventional solar
Tesla has stopped accepting or supplying new Solar Roof orders and is redirecting residential-solar activity toward conventional rooftop panels paired with Powerwall. The company is abandoning the integrated roof-tile approach while remaining active in residential solar.
Weak economics and minimal deployment
Solar Roof failed to reach Tesla’s intended scale, with roughly 3,000 U.S. systems installed over about seven years and peak deployment far below the company’s 1,000-per-week target. High pricing, manufacturing complexity, and installation times substantially longer than conventional solar undermined the product’s financial viability.
Costs and service risks shifted to installers and customers
The discontinuation leaves certified contractors with stranded investments in training, tooling, estimating, crews, and certification, while projects may require conversion to conventional photovoltaic systems or cancellation. Existing owners and installers also face uncertainty over replacement tiles, complex repairs, labor costs, and long-term support for the proprietary system.
1,000 systems per week
Tesla's targeted Solar Roof production and installation rate
“Deployment also fell far short of Tesla’s ambitions. Musk repeatedly targeted production and installation of 1,000 Solar Roof systems per week. Wood Mackenzie data cited by Electrek estimated peak installations at only about 21 to 32 systems per week—more than 95% below the target—and estimated that Tesla installed roughly 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the United States over about seven years.”
21 to 32 systems per week
Estimated peak Solar Roof installations
“Deployment also fell far short of Tesla’s ambitions. Musk repeatedly targeted production and installation of 1,000 Solar Roof systems per week. Wood Mackenzie data cited by Electrek estimated peak installations at only about 21 to 32 systems per week—more than 95% below the target—and estimated that Tesla installed roughly 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the United States over about seven years.”
roughly 3,000 systems
Estimated Solar Roof systems installed in the United States
“Deployment also fell far short of Tesla’s ambitions. Musk repeatedly targeted production and installation of 1,000 Solar Roof systems per week. Wood Mackenzie data cited by Electrek estimated peak installations at only about 21 to 32 systems per week—more than 95% below the target—and estimated that Tesla installed roughly 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the United States over about seven years.”
more than 95%
Shortfall of peak installations relative to Tesla's target
“Deployment also fell far short of Tesla’s ambitions. Musk repeatedly targeted production and installation of 1,000 Solar Roof systems per week. Wood Mackenzie data cited by Electrek estimated peak installations at only about 21 to 32 systems per week—more than 95% below the target—and estimated that Tesla installed roughly 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the United States over about seven years.”
more than 95%
shortfall relative to Elon Musk’s installation promise
“Over roughly seven years, Tesla installed only about 3,000 Solar Roof systems in the United States. Installations peaked at approximately 21 to 32 per week, more than 95% below Elon Musk’s repeated promise of 1,000 weekly installations by 2019–2020.”
High costs emerge as a likely cause of Solar Roof’s weak market viability
New reporting links Solar Roof’s limited uptake and discontinuation to pricing and installation costs that made the system less competitive than conventional rooftop solar.
Previously
Tesla has discontinued its Solar Roof tiles and redirected certified installers toward conventional rooftop solar panels, after roughly 3,000 U.S. installations over about seven years. The withdrawal leaves contractors managing canceled or converted projects and raises questions about replacement parts, repair costs, and long-term support for existing systems, while conventional solar and Powerwall products remain available.