Tesla launches new solar roof tiles with more power, higher efficiency

Tesla is launching a new solar roof tile with greater efficiency and higher power capacity. It comes as Tesla is trying to make its solar products mainstream.

Tesla has had ups and downs when it comes to the solar roof.

The product has been widely recognized for its beautiful design. It undeniably has significant advantages over regular solar panels, with the ability to penetrate markets like new houses and homes that need a roof replacement relatively soon.

However, it has been hard to bring it to market.

Tesla has had issues testing for longevity, with prices fluctuating widely as the company realized the difficulties of creating a streamlined product for such different things as roofs.

As we previously reported, Tesla significantly increased the price of the solar roof tiles earlier this year, after introducing a new “roof complexity factor.”

But the company claimed that the demand for the solar roof was still strong after this price increase and that installations are accelerating.

Now we learn that Tesla is making a significant upgrade to its solar roof with a new, more powerful, solar tile.

Electrek has obtained a datasheet for the new solar tile that Tesla has started to include in solar roofs designed for customers.

Tesla previously used its “SR60T1” tile, with a 58.5-watt capacity, in solar roof designs.

Now the company is now producing quotes and starting installations with a new “SR72T1” solar tile.

The new tile features a higher max power output of 71.67 watts:

With more efficient solar cells, Tesla managed to maintain the same tile size with a 22% increase in max power output.

It will enable Tesla to fit more solar power with fewer solar tiles on a single roof.

In a solar roof installations, Tesla installs tiles with solar power and some without. The company tries to optimize each roof by installing the tiles with solar cells where they would be more efficient.

From the angle of the ground, the solar tiles and non-solar tiles look the same. Using fewer solar tiles could simplify the installation process, since it will require fewer electrical connections between tiles.

Interestingly, the new tile datasheet also mentions that Tesla can install the solar tiles over existing roofs.

It specifies these two roof types:

• Three-tab composition shingle, single layer

• Architectural composition shingle, single layer

Here’s the datasheet for Tesla’s new SR72T1 solar tile:

[scribd id=536477920 key=key-3ESaSvgy4MjCfQ5OERLz mode=scroll]

As we recently reported, Tesla is also trying to accelerate the adoption of its solar roof tiles by standardizing the product and having independent roofing companies install them.

Tesla is also pushing to get more solar roof orders.

While Tesla ended its referral program for cars last month, the program remained for its solar roof and even increased its referral award to $500.