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Comment by taneq | Hacker News Reader

Wait what, their estimated payback time is 60 YEARS?

This is terrible. They've gotta be just trying to snipe rich early-adopter-for-the-status types.

And whats wrong with that? A bunch of rich early-adopter-for-the-status types will get a Telsa roof, Telsa will get better at developing the technology and the price will come down, meanwhile more people are moving to renewable energy sources to power their homes which is good for the environment. Whats the downside here?

Through the tax credits, we're all paying for someone else's pet project.

Since Tesla's products are expensive, it would be a regressive tax even if we all bought enough solar panels for our needs.

The point of the tax credit is to encourage innovation.

Yes, solar roofs are a bad investment NOW, but they might be a good idea in 20 years, once all these businesses have done this research on them.

If solar roof companies are to get an indirect tax credit then:

1) It should be in exchange for preferred stock/bonds in the company; and/or

2) the tax credit should favour lower prices, not higher

> They've gotta be just trying to snipe rich early-adopter-for-the-status types.

Tesla? The company that brought you the Roadster first, then the Model S and X, and only later the Model 3? I'm shocked. ;)

yeah i know aren't these the exact people that should pay for these kinds of things? I think it's a great model. Can't wait for the model 3 version!

All the rich people that bought the expensive Teslas have used up almost all of the tax credits so the majority of model 3 buyers will be SOL

I'm thinking it's early adopters and new buildings. The Tesla roof on a newly built home may make more sense than a retrofit.

Right, noone is acknowledging SolarCity's pre-existing relationships with homebuilders. http://www.solarcity.com/commercial/homebuilders

It's going to be cheaper (marginally) to build something in at design than after.

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