Elon Musk unveiled his plans for Tesla’s solar roof tiles division on October 28th, 2016. However, since that time, CNBC argues only a few roofs have been installed. Tesla’s stock has had a rocky ride of late. After hitting $387.46 in 2017, its shares closed at $299 Monday afternoon. From talks of going private to the Founder and CEO, Elon Musk, appearing to smoke marijuana in a recent live interview, die-hard Tesla supporters still believe in the company’s mission.
As is the case with big companies and small, investors tend to get impatient when milestones or goals are not hit.
Tesla’s Solar Roof Tiles
Elon Musk unveiled prototypes of Tesla’s Solar Roof tiles in October 2016. They came in four styles that looked just like normal roofing material; but, were essentially miniaturized versions of traditional solar panels. According to CNBC, the announcement helped Tesla justify its $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity one month later. The acquisition of SolarCity represents Musk’s vision for what the businesses could do together.
Tesla specializes in electric vehicles, lithium-ion battery energy storage and solar panel manufacturing. The residential and commercial solar roof tiles business are massive. If Tesla wants to be a leader in renewable energy harvesting it needs to excel in this space. The company had a market cap of more than $51 billion Monday.
