Tesla discontinues its Solar Roof tiles, not economically viable

I am not surprised. I completely get what they were going for, it feels like a product that should just be the default. But the was two major issues with them. One technical, one social.

On the technical side, they required a full roof replacement. This made for a very costly investment with a multiple day installation period. Typical panels, cost a lot less, are just placed on top of the current roof and are done in a few hours. Solar tiles simply couldn't compete with that.

The social side, it is what could be called 'Green Bling'. They just look like a normal roof tile, you cannot virtue signal to the neighbors with that! That probably isn't a huge issue but it wouldn't be insignificant. If you have typical solar panels, you know you have them and so does everyone around you. This isn't a big thing and it is much less now that it seems like almost everyone has them, at least were I am.