Tesla's solar roof tiles will be available for preorder starting next month—but there's no official press release available from the company sharing the exact details of the release. Instead, we have an Elon Musk tweet spree to thank for the news.
The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has been known to drop product knowledge and workshop crazy, off-the-cuff schemes like his tunneling project on Twitter. He doesn't just share his own thoughts—he's been known to interact directly with his followers, too.
Today was one of those days.
Musk was feeling the Tesla Model 3 love, sharing info about the upcoming sedan and teasing a future Model Y vehicle. A curious follower asked Musk when we might be able to expect the tiles to hit the market— and Musk answered directly, as he's known to do.
@HolsMichael Start taking orders in April
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 24, 2017
We already know quite a bit about the solar tiles—Musk unveiled them in a presentation last year. The Tesla tiles are designed to look more like traditional roofing than other solar panels, and have been demonstrated to be much more durable than anything else you've probably got on your house.
Solar roof glass tile vs. conventional roof tile pic.twitter.com/AnGWJ07jub
— Tesla (@TeslaMotors) October 29, 2016
Tesla also claims that its tiles will be cheaper than normal roofing options once utility savings are taken into account, but it hasn't offered any pricing details (Musk didn't tweet those out, either). We also don't know when they'll be available for installation—Tesla's site says production will start in the middle of this year.
If you want to know exactly when the solar roof will be available, you can sign up for updates on Tesla's waiting list. That way, you won't have to lurk in Musk's mentions, at least until you have a question about another upcoming Tesla project. Then, just feel free to ask—he might just drop some insider knowledge straight into your replies.