If you’re here, odds are you’re aware of Tesla. But on the off chance you’re unfamiliar with Elon Musk’s idea factory; Tesla makes electric vehicles. More precisely, Tesla makes electric vehicles that people want to drive. The product is often heralded as the world’s premiere, luxury electric car. And rightfully so, Teslas are faster, sleeker and flat out more fun to drive than most vehicles on the road, electric or otherwise. But co-founder Elon Musk isn’t letting Tesla rest on its laurels – in recent years the luxury car manufacturer has branched out into more economical electric vehicles and commercial and residential sustainability, the latter of which being our focus now. Can Solar Roof change the way we perceive residential sustainability the way Tesla changed the way we perceive electric cars?

One of the most revolutionary things that Tesla did early on had little to do with actual technology – they made an electric car that looked cool. In retrospect it seems like a no-brainer, but they did it first. And Solar Roof has begun with a similarly simple proposition, what if a rooftop solar panel looked like a roof? The Solar Roof mimics traditional shingles, you can actually choose between textured, smooth, Tuscan and slate styles.

The technology is there too. Solar Roof, like all solar panels, collects energy during the day and stores it in another new Tesla venture, the Powerwall home battery. This feels a bit like an upsell but the Powerwall does have a lot going for it.

Powerwall takes you off the grid, so to speak. It can store enough solar power to keep you going during an outage (13.5 kWh to be precise) and like all Tesla products; it looks pretty cool. The sleek 29″ by 44″ unit affixes to the exterior of your home and can be managed seamlessly, along with your Solar Roof, with the Tesla App.

It’s new technology, and all new technology comes with a few headaches, but the first hurdle has already been surmounted – the Solar Roof and Powerwall look good, and this can’t be discounted. As we’ve seen time and time again, cool is the key to consumer adoption and as long as Tesla keeps enveloping dependable technology in user-friendly packages, we’re willing to bet there’s a contingency of people that are ready to get on board.

Image source: tesla.com