Making electric vehicles (EVs) is only one of the two key business ventures for Tesla, Inc. Mostly forgotten by the public is the fact Tesla is also into renewable energy in a big way. Tesla provides renewable home energy battery storage and grid storage systems under the Powerwall, Powerpack and Megapack brands. It also produces solar panels and solar roof tiles through subsidiary, SolarCity Corporation.
Launched in August 2016 but inconspicuous since, SolarCity is making its presence felt and stands to become a huge revenue earner for Tesla in the years ahead. Revenues from Tesla's solar and battery business might reach some $80 billion a year in the 2030s, up from only $1.6 billion in 2019, according to Alex Potter, an analyst with Piper Sandler Companies, an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company. In contrast, Tesla's revenue from the sales of its world-leading EVs came to $18.5 billion in 2019.
"It's easy to forget that Tesla sells batteries and solar power products," wrote Potter in a note to investors. "Clearly, the market is big enough to 'move the needle' -- and perhaps large enough to surpass the automotive segment."
Potter said Tesla is boosting production of Solar Roof, a premium and durable glass roof tile with integrated solar technology that can power a home with 100% renewable energy. Each Solar Roof is custom designed to maximize energy production.
Potter believes many of the future buyers of Tesla's Solar Roof and batteries will be owners of Tesla EVs that want to power their clean vehicles with clean energy rather than electricity derived from polluting coal-fired power plants. He said Tesla's next challenge will entail making it cool to generate and store one's own solar power.
A Tesla Solar Roof integrates photovoltaic electrical energy generating devices in the entire roof surface. It's not merely solar panels mounted on an existing roof. "It's not a thing on a roof. It is the roof," said Musk explaining how his product differs from the rest.
Tesla began limited production of the tiles in August 2017, but by July 2019 had only connected about a dozen or so solar-integrated roofs to the grid despite receiving deposits from homeowners. In October 2019, Tesla announced "Version 3," or V3, of its Solar Roof. V3 is the first Solar Roof version Tesla affirms is ready for mass installations. Tesla plans to "ramp production to as many as 1,000 new roofs per week."
Last week, Tesla announced it was hiring thousands of roofers and tile installers for Solar Roof. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said his Solar Roof Team is hiring people with absolutely no experience. On-the-job training will be provided.
Musk tweeted: "Tesla is ramping up Solar Roof installation across the USA! Training will be provided, so no prior experience needed. Apply at ... " Clicking this tweet leads one to a webpage with the title, "Join the Solar Roof Team."
"Looking forward to international expansion later this year," he said in a later tweet
Tesla is hiring roofers and installers to install Solar Roof in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Virginia.
