California – Tesla Motors announced Friday, October 28, they will diversify the company and will begin producing solar roofs. The product will be available in four different styles and can provide energy to a four-bedroom house.
The company was founded in 2003 in San Carlos, California and its name is in honor of Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American electrical engineer, and the scientist responsible for alternative electricity supply, Tesla Motors is in charge of producing cars that function with power.
The first public presentation was made by the CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, at Universal Studios in Los Angeles. The samples were showed on the roofs of the set of the series “Desperate Housewives” where Musk presented an innovative form to have aesthetic solar panels.
Such tiles are made of quartz, an endurable mineral, composed of solar cells to absorb energy, a color louver film to blend the panel with the roof and tempered glass to give more resistance and duration. Musk, to prove the durability of the product, compared them with rocks and other objects and said the panels were quasi-infinite.
Musk said that panels change color depending on the point of view, guaranteeing that if two houses have the same style, their roofs will look different because of the reflection of the tempered glass.
The company wants this proposal to be “aesthetically affordable” for customers and is expected to cost around 5,500 USD on a four-bedroom house.
Possible merge with SolarCity
SolarCity is a company specialized in alternative energies and specifically on installing solar panels in homes. During the last two years, the company has been facing a decrease in their incomes even though alternative energies are replacing conventional resources.
Tesla Motors recently offered $2 billion to merge both companies due to the increase of solar panel installations in the US. Only this year the purchase of solar panels augmented to 23 percent and an 18 percent increase is expected for 2017.
The alternative energy industry growth has considerably decreased compared to the 66 percent increase in 2015. However, experts have said that it will increase again while it stabilizes and such industry will be sustainable despite the variables of consumption.
On November 17, shareholders will decide upon the merger of both companies and whether to accept or reject the amount offered by Tesla Motors. If the merge is successful, the new business will produce both electric cars and solar panels.
Source: Los Angeles Times