The Tesla Solar Roof does not cease to amaze us. It's not only a groundbreaking photovoltaic product that might completely change the solar industry, but it has even some neat abilities like self-clearing of snow (at least in some circumstances).
In a very interesting video, Jason Lassen showed recently what happens when the snow falls on the Solar Roof (on his home under construction in Wisconsin) and how quickly it gets the snow off the roof.
"Our Tesla Solarglass Roof is just about complete and it's experiencing one of it's first snowfalls. We'll check out to see how quickly the snow falls off the roof and whether it melts (and runs off as water) or whether it winds up as a large snow pile."
"UPDATE: Just to clarify, the home was fully insulated during this shoot. There is foam insulation in the walls and blown insulation in the attics. In our climate, it would be extremely wasteful to heat a home under construction that was not insulated." - Jason Lassen
The result is great. In this particular example, snow began around 9:30 PM (a few inches), and by the next morning (11:00 AM) snow has slid off of almost all of the slopes. The roof was basically clear the next day, while the other roofs were not.
It's not only important to get rid of the snow from the roof, but also because one would like to produce some electricity even in the wintertime.
We guess that the glass surface of the Solar Roof combined with the right slope might be why it works so well, but to be sure we need to see more examples.
***UPDATE: Here is another example, from Austin, Texas, where snow sliding off was caught in action.
Elon Musk explains:
"The Tesla Solar Roof is slightly hydrophobic, so water, snow or ice slide off easily."
Even Tesla appreciated the video and shared it yesterday on its social media channel:
See also
If your solar roof is not self-clearing of snow, then you might need a special tool:
