With its auto business under pressure, the company is doubling down on rooftop energy, starting with a sleek, all black solar panel built from scratch at its Buffalo factory.
The dominant player in the home battery storage market has just unveiled ambitious new plans to design and make its own integrated solar panels.
It’s been nearly 10 years since Tesla acquired SolarCity in a turbulent deal, and with auto sales entering uncertain periods, the world’s second largest EV manufacturer has decided to double down on its solar offering.
Tesla might be running into trouble; with the first full year of decline in revenue, this might be the right time to make a small pivot, and capitalise on its brand to capture more of the $7.45bn US solar panel market.
“This is the first time that we’ve actually fully designed and manufactured our own solar panel.”
Tesla’s energy division, in contrast to its EV business, is growing, and rapidly, up 27% in 2025. They installed a massive 46.7 GW-hours of storage capacity for the year.
Home battery storage continues to be in demand. With rising energy costs that are predicted to keep increasing, many homes are looking for a solution.
As power becomes more expensive, and solar panels keep following Swanson’s Law and declining in price, more and more homeowners eyes are opening to solar.
The New Tesla Vision
Tesla is planning a sleek new solar panel, featuring a classic low-profile, all-black design with no visible bus ribbons. Homeowners have long complained about the looks of solar panels, especially the earlier polycrystalline blue versions. Tesla’s initial idea to cash in on this market was the Tesla roof tile, which received lukewarm sales, due to high costs and poor retrofit design.
A traditional panel, but amped up by the Tesla design team could be just what the industry and consumers are looking for.
The plan is to have full integration with the Powerwall storage batteries, inverters and their line of electric vehicles.
Tesla’s engineering team have access to data from over 500,000 solar installations, which gives them a heady advantage over competitors, in design and building a product that aligns with what consumers want.
“We’re always looking for ways to eliminate unnecessary pieces and improve time.”
This fits well with Elon’s well-known principle of “the best part is no part.”
However, it’s not all plain sailing. The US solar market is under fire from government policy shakeups which has dampened demand in some key states like California. The US Government restructured its budget bill, and eliminated the tax credit for outright purchases of solar panel systems. But preserved the credit for third-party installed systems. Tesla and the rest of the industry pivoted quickly, they now install the panels, and the homeowner pays them off over a 5 year lease.
All in all, this is an exciting development that could shake up the industry, offer homeowners another option and increase jobs in the US.
