Five and a half years later, Tesla still seems far from its goal of installing 1,000 photovoltaic roofs per week. Electrek, citing an unnamed source, said the company installed only 2.5 MW of photovoltaic roofs in the second quarter. At a mid-size 9.6 kW, Tesla only served about 260 households last quarter — or about 20 per week.
At a lower average power (say, 5 kW), Tesla is only installing around 38 PV rooftops per weekâless than 4 percent of its 1,000-a-week target. Back in 2016, Tesla showcased the Solar Roof on a street known as Wisteria Lane, where Desperate Housewives was filmed.
At the time, Musk said that Solar Roof does not need to be installed on the roof, because you can directly use the photovoltaic panel as a roof. As a stylish alternative, it is designed to replace those traditional solar panels that are bolted on.
Embarrassingly, Musk responded last year that they had grossly misestimated the difficulty of installing certain roofs. A field-deployed solution was not a one-size-fits-all solution, and the company was forced to raise the Solar Roof offer for some buyers at the time.
On the other hand, Tesla may also have encountered supply chain challenges. The report pointed to a sharp drop in PV deployment in the first quarter of this year, which the company blamed on import delays for some modules that were beyond their control.
Thankfully, the company is still doing relatively well in its larger solar business, with its U.S. residential segment having its best quarter since its acquisition of Solar City in 2017. For more details, please wait patiently for the Q2 2022 report to be released on July 20.
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