ELON MUSK: Tesla is beginning solar roof orders today

Tesla

Tesla's smooth glass tile.

Tesla is officially accepting orders for some of its solar roof tiles Wednesday afternoon, CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter.

Tesla will begin selling one of its four solar shingle options starting Wednesday afternoon: the smooth glass tile. Musk hinted that its textured glass tile will be ready for order shortly after.

Tesla's French slate and Tuscan glass tile options, however, won't be made available until 2018.

Tesla unveiled its solar roof product last October, a month before it acquired SolarCity in a deal worth $2.1 billion. At the time, Musk said Tesla was offering four different tile aesthetics to encourage customers to ditch clunky solar panels for a beautiful roof.

"First of all, I've never seen a solar roof that I would actually want … they're weird," Musk said in November. "Every one of them that I've seen is worse than a normal roof, without exception. So unless you're going to beat a roof on aesthetics, why bother?"

The company has partnered with Panasonic to produce the shingles' solar cells at its plant in Buffalo, New York.

Musk said installations will begin in the US this year, but that deliveries and installations won't occur in the UK and Australia until next year.

Wednesday's order rollout will mark the first time customers can get a glimpse at the expected cost of Tesla's solar roof, which Musk has said will be cheaper than a normal roof, even before factoring in the value of generating electricity.

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