Tesla raises $1.8B
Let's talk about Solar City.<p>Their product is intended to be a solar roof, indistinguishable from a typical roof from street level. Costs look to be in the $50,000+ range. The marketing is that homeowners will not only drive electric vehicles, but go completely off grid by storing the energy collected into Tesla batteries.<p>In order for this to make financial sense, there needs to be an ROI for the homeowner. So... how long will it take the homeowner to recoup that, say, $75,000 investment?<p>I am currently spending about $125/month on electricity. That's $1,500 per year. Two Tesla's would run through about $1,000 [0] of electricity in the same year. That's $2,500 per year I'd spend on electricity to my grid operator.<p>That's 30 years to break even.<p>I could probably buy an equivalent roof-mounted system for half that, and the batteries, and see a return in 15 years. Is the aesthetic worth the longer term payoff?<p>Or would Tesla see more uptake in new home construction where the cost of the roof can be amortized into the construction cost?<p>I understand that Solar City has a different financing biz model, are they going to continue with that.<p>[0] <a href="http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1090685_life-with-tesla-model-s-one-year-and-15000-miles-later" rel="nofollow">http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1090685_life-with-tesla-...</a>