Tesla Is Pulling the Plug on Its Solar Roof Tiles

Tesla appears to be calling it quits on its Solar Roof tiles nearly 10 years after their debut. Electrek reports, citing two unnamed sources familiar with the matter, that Tesla has told its network of certified third-party installers it will no longer supply Solar Roof tiles and will only provide conventional solar panels in the future. Changes to Tesla’s website seem to support the report. The company’s former Solar Roof page, tesla.com/solarroof, now redirects to its solar panels page. Solar Roof has also disappeared from the website’s Energy navigation menu and support page. The apparent end of Solar Roof follows years of signs that the product was struggling to live up to Tesla’s ambitions. Tesla CEO Elon Musk first unveiled Solar Roof in 2016, pitching a line of solar-powered tiles that could generate electricity while also serving as a home’s roof. Musk showed off the technology at a splashy event using homes that had appeared on the popular TV show Desperate Housewives. The event came just weeks before Tesla shareholders voted to approve the company’s roughly $2.6 billion acquisition of SolarCity, the struggling solar installer founded by Musk’s cousins. The Tesla CEO also