After Tesla experienced its best-ever quarter in Q3 2020, CEO Elon Musk expects the company’s Solar Roof to be its next “killer product.”
“When you look around the neighborhood in the future, a decade from now, what do you want?” Musk said during the company’s Q3 earnings call. “What products are going to make your life better? What future do you want? And I think a future where we’ve got beautiful roofs generating energy that are tough and resilient and better in every way than a regular roof, and alive with energy, that’s the future we want.
“Solar Roof is a killer product. This will become obvious next year.”
Tesla reported the third quarter was its best-ever quarter in the company’s history, achieved through a record number of deliveries, revenue, net income and a cash flow of $1.4 billion.
“The best company will be that which makes great products at an affordable price, and that is our goal,” Musk said. “I’ve never felt more optimistic about the future of Tesla than I have today.”
Tesla doubled the amount of solar it deployed, going from 27 megawatts in the second quarter to 57 megawatts. This was a 111% increase, and a 33% increase compared to the same time last year. In its Q3 report, Tesla credits its strategy of offering low-cost solar as a primary cause for the increase.
Tesla also states that Solar Roof deployments almost tripled sequentially. Carl Peterson, senior director of engineering, energy hardwire, said the company is seeing success with independent roofing contractors who are installing Solar Roofs.
“We’ve had great response from third-party roofing contractors as they’re ramping up installations for Solar Roof on their customer homes, which is a big source of future growth,” Peterson said.
Conversely, he said the biggest constraint preventing Tesla from ramping up Solar Roofs is having enough trained and experienced installers, which the company has been pushing for on its careers webpage, including possible expansions into Canada.
The Q3 report come out weeks after a time-lapse video began circulating of a Solar Roof being installed in 1.5 days. Though this has yet to be at scale, it is a welcomed development for Tesla following news of a customer whose Solar Roof installation had yet to be completed in two months.
First unveiled in 2016, the electric car company's Solar Roof — now in Version 3 — is a roof system that has solar cells integrated into the roof. The company claims its solar roof system offers weather protection for the home and a pleasing aesthetic while also converting solar energy to electricity.