Tesla's Solar Roof exit leaves installers with six-figure losses
Tesla killing Solar Roof is leaving installers with six-figure losses
Tesla abruptly discontinued its Solar Roof product in August, leaving certified installers who invested heavily in training and tooling with stranded costs and abandoned projects. Despite Elon Musk's promise of 1,000 weekly installations, Tesla only managed about 3,000 total installations over seven years. Now, contractors like Elevated Roofing & Siding and Westfall Roofing face financial losses and uncertainty over warranty support for the 25-year roofs. Critics argue Tesla offloaded the hardest part of the business onto small companies, then pulled the product out from under them.
Tesla offloaded the hardest, least profitable part of the Solar Roof — the physical install and the customer relationship — onto small local companies, let them absorb the training and tooling costs, and then pulled the product out from under them.