Elon Musk just unveiled Tesla's solar roof and new Tesla Energy products

[bananas]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by In_The_Wind (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: Business Insider

Behold, Tesla's solar roof:


Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled the solar roof at Universal Studios in Los Angeles on Friday night. Musk has been hyping the solar roof ahead of its shareholder vote for a SolarCity merger that's scheduled for November 17, calling it a "fundamental part of achieving differentiated product strategy."

The solar roofs that Musk showed off were installed on houses on Universal Studio's famous backlot, which recreates a suburban environment. In his presentation, Musk showcases a variety of roofing designs, ranging from traditional to modern a Tuscan tile application, all constructed of glass solar panels that look unlike solar panels have ever looked before.

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Musk also showed off the new version of its at-home battery, Powerwall 2.0, that will sell for $5,500. The first version of Tesla's Powerwall stored 6.4 kWh worth of energy and was priced at $3,500.

The new Powerwall will have twice the storage and twice the energy, Musk said, 14 kWh of energy and 5 kWh of continuous power, but improved to 7 kWh at peak. Translation: it's an incrementally improved battery, just as Tesla's cars have been improved as the years have passed, gaining range and performance.

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Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-solar-roof-photos-features-2016-10

[UCmeNdc]

1. Tesla needs to develop solar energy window panes.

Clear see through window panes that collect solar energy for each individual building. I saw this technology in peer reviewed science journals back in the 1990's. What happened?

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Roofs tend to be at more useful angles

If there's a good compromise for a window between absorption of light for energy use and transmission for the inside, that'd be nice, but I can see that it would be more likely to be expensive with less potential for efficiency than an opaque covering.

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. that should read "5 kW of continuous power" and "7 kW at peak" of course, not 'kWh'

https://www.tesla.com/powerwall

I wish journalists would get the basic ideas of power and energy, and their units, right before attempting to write about electricity. It'd be interesting to know how they define 'peak' v. 'continuous' as well.

[In_The_Wind]

4. Locking Duplicate Thread

dupe of http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141610394