{"id":81472,"date":"2018-08-08T11:42:23","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T18:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/teslas-production-problems-extend-to-its-solar-roof-business-too"},"modified":"2018-08-10T07:06:03","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T14:06:03","slug":"teslas-production-problems-extend-to-its-solar-roof-business-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/teslas-production-problems-extend-to-its-solar-roof-business-too","title":{"rendered":"Tesla\u2019s production problems extend to its solar roof business, too"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/teslas-production-problems-extend-to-its-solar-roof-business-too.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The production problems Tesla has faced with its Model 3 have been well <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2018\/01\/04\/tesla-says-its-model-3-production-nightmare-is-nearly-over\/\">documented<\/a>. Now, sources say the company is facing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2018\/01\/09\/tesla-now-manufacturing-solar-roof-tiles\/\">similar issues<\/a> with its solar roof tile initiative. According to <em>Reuters<\/em>, former and current employees have revealed that assembly line problems, plus CEO Elon Musk\u2019s exacting aesthetic demands, has delayed production, causing tension with partner Panasonic, and rattling officials that are keen to see a return on significant state investment.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2018\/05\/07\/tesla-solar-roof-tiles-patent-application\/\">Solar Roof<\/a>,\u201d produced at Tesla\u2019s factory in Buffalo, New York, is designed to look like and function as a regular roof while also generating energy. According to sources, technical challenges have delayed production, as has Musk\u2019s design plans. Speaking to <em>Reuters<\/em>, one source said that \u201cAesthetic look is the key point that Elon is not always satisfied with. That\u2019s the big issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Neither Tesla nor <em>Reuters<\/em>\u2019 sources have revealed current production figures for the roof tiles, but the delays are such that Panasonic \u2014 which the initiative depends on for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2017\/04\/09\/tesla-sleek-solar-panel-for-existing-roofs\/\">solar components<\/a> \u2014 has been forced to find other buyers for the parts it had built to sell to Tesla. According to a former Panasonic employee, the company has been shipping \u201clarge volumes\u201d of its photovoltaic cells as samples to other prospective buyers, due to low demand from Tesla. Panasonic declined to comment on the issue, stating only that it \u201cbelieves Tesla will use Panasonic cells when it mass-markets the Solar roof.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- Link: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2018\/08\/08\/teslas-production-problems-solar-roof-business\/\">https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/2018\/08\/08\/teslas-production-proble...-business\/<\/a> --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The production problems Tesla has faced with its Model 3 have been well documented. Now, sources say the company is facing similar issues with its solar roof tile initiative. According to Reuters, former and current employees have revealed that assembly line problems, plus CEO Elon Musk\u2019s exacting aesthetic demands, has delayed production, causing tension with [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":467,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2019,1497,17,1491],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-elon-musk","category-energy","category-sustainability","category-transportation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/467"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81537,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81472\/revisions\/81537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}