4 ms·

AFAIK large part of price of classical solar cells is attaching the leads (by manual soldering). Tesla solar roof is one ingenious solution to this problem. I

• gpm 6y ago
  Genuinely ignorant, how does the solar roof reduce the need for manual soldering?
  • sandworm101 6y ago
    Connectors.... thousands of them. Small tiles On flexible structures like roofs have connectivity issues too. Tesla's only party trick is tiles that looks a little like roof shingles. They look less intrusive than flat panels. Imho it is about as useful as painting turbines green so they look like trees.
    • charliemil4 6y ago
      Man, if that’s really the case, the only screwup in the first principle thinking is relying on downstream habits to adapt to solar vs traditional shingles. Working with traditional materials is a completely different building flow than the solar panel, obviously. Smart overall, might be difficult to execute.
    • Retric 6y ago
      The roof part of Tesla solar roof should presumably last a long time. It also avoids drilling holes in your shingles, combined that could represent a significant competitive advantage. The solar part on the hand is overpriced and may limit how long the roofing lasts. Which means it’s only really competitive if you’re already constructing/replacing the roof and don’t yet have solar. Aka best case is after ~25 years the roof reverts to a normal roof and then goes on to last another 25+ years. The worst case on the other hand is if the roof needs to be replace as soon as the solar panels reach end of life.
      • sandworm101 6y ago
        >> The roof part of Tesla solar roof should presumably last a long time. Ya, but people aren't buying a tesla roof for the roof part. It is the solar part that matters. Roofs move, they swell and shift with the seasons. Over 25 years at least some of those thousands of connectors between solar tiles will have degraded and/or disconnected, leaving entire sections/rows of tiles disconnected. That is why, when you need to make thousands of connections in an electrical project meant to last many years, manual soldering is still the preferred tactic.
        • zatel 6y ago
          I worked in the Tesla factory making solar panels and I can attest that they are more snazzy and lighter then normal panels I've bought for my home (the wait list was to long for Tesla ones) I'm not sure they're much more durable. They can take a hit straight on but if anything comes at the wrong angle the top glass layer shatters. It was so common that we had a designated spot to go dump the ones that would frequently break during the manufacturing process.
          • blacksmith_tb 6y ago
            I have ~8yr old panels manufactured in China, one of them was shattered by what I suspect was a falling bullet (must've been a wild party...). Since the panels are wired in series, that reduced the output of the system by about half (the shattered panel was in the middle). Ironically I couldn't easily replace it, as new panels are higher output, so I would have to replace my inverter. I opted to just bypass the dead panel and have 19 working instead of 20.
          • m463 6y ago
            > They can take a hit straight on but if anything comes at the wrong angle the top glass layer shatters. hopefully the cybertruck and the panels will get better in future revs. :)
    • deleted 6y ago
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