Elon Musk’s Tesla To Launch 2 New Products After Semi-Truck, Minibus

Despite the controversy it is facing over its electric cars’ Autopilot feature, Tesla remains unfazed in doing what it is doing best — releasing innovative products. Earlier today, it was revealed that Elon Musk’s automotive and battery company is going to release two new products soon.

Just this month, Tesla acquired solar panel service company SolarCity for $2.6 billion, so it does not come as a surprising that Musk attended the latter’s conference call earlier today. During the event, SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive mentioned that in time for the closing of the two companies’ merger this fourth quarter, they are going to unveil two new products to the market, Electrek has learned.

Musk, who is considered a visionary, quickly jumped in to reveal that one of the products is going to be a special type of solar panels that are going to replace roofs. The 45-year-old business magnate called it “solar roof” because according to him, the roof in itself will be made of solar panels instead of just constructing solar modules that will be placed on top of the roof.

"If your roof is nearing end-of-life, you definitely don't want to put solar panels on it, because you're going to have to replace the roof. So, there is a huge market segment that is currently inaccessible to SolarCity, because people know they're going to have to replace their roof. You don't want to put solar panels on top of a roof you're going to replace,” Musk further said of the product.

Both Rive and Musk did not share details about the other upcoming product, but it would most likely be another solar-powered commodity that might ambitiously replace an existing product, just like the roof.
For now, Musk is envisioning the practical side of having solar roofs that can generate enough energy to power homes and recharge the company’s electric sedans, according to AutoBlog.

The news about Tesla and SolarCity’s upcoming products just comes a week after Musk publicly announced that that his automaker is expanding its line of vehicular products with a semi-truck and a minibus. The two new vehicles that will be based on the Model X platform promise efficient cargo transport and commuting, but Musk admitted that it would take around six to nine months before his company can unveil the two, and it would take around five years for them to enter production, CNN Money has learned.

Tesla appears to be doing its best to pique the interest of investors and the market as tit continues to struggle in meeting production goals with its current line of electric cars and save face from the negative noise its cars’ Autopilot mode is receiving from critics and the media.