Elon Musk at solar panel unveiling: 'We need to make solar as appealing as electric cars'

UNIVERSAL CITY, California — Tesla CEO Elon Musk tied together some of the disparate threads of his company's various grand ambitions in a product launch event here at Universal Studios Friday night.

The event — Tesla's first major unveiling since announcing plans to acquire Musk's cousin's company SolarCity in August — centered on a couple new products: a household battery outfit and a new type of rooftop solar panel.

The revamped Powerwall 2.0 is an updated iteration of the company's sleek, rectangular household battery attachment, a 200-plus-pound energy storage unit with twice the capacity of its predecessor.

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Musk also demonstrated Tesla's new line of solar shingles, actual panel-infused roofing designed to more inconspicuously camouflage with the average house. He claimed the textured-glass tiles would be more durable than most other roofs and appeal to people who might not warm to the idea of unwieldy utilitarian slates atop their houses.

The event was held in a version of the Desperate Housewives neighborhood set seemingly populated by brand-loyal families of early adopters. Solar shingles graced the roofs of many houses, and a Tesla sat in every driveway.

"Check out this sweet roof,” Musk said of one of the homes.

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The rollout comes at a rough time for Tesla and its sister company SolarCity. Investors, seemingly frustrated with the two companies' lavish spending and the opaque logic behind their merger proposition, have somewhat gouged the stock prices of both businesses.

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At the time the merger plan was announced, many wondered what the automaker could possibly want with a money-losing solar panel company.

Speaking to a crowd of investors, media and brand enthusiasts Friday night, Musk sought to at least partially clear up the rationale.

Tesla has never been strictly a car company, Musk contended.

"The purpose of Tesla was to advance sustainable energy," he said. "There's no shortage of car companies in the world."

Musk says his vision has always been bigger than simply automobiles, echoing language from his "master plan" document in which he describes his goal as a"vertically integrated energy company offering end-to-end clean energy products to our customers."

That essentially means that Musk wants to integrate home power generation, cars and car chargers and energy storage into a single reliable system.

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Each of the various components of that platform will naturally carry Tesla's stylish branding and, presumably, its engineering prowess, bringing a flashy face to an industry not exactly known for being sexy.

"Just like with electric cars — where they didn't look good; they had low range and low performance; they were like a golf cart," Musk said. "We need to make solar as appealing as electric cars."

The set-up would also conceivably allow for the addition of endless gadgets to orbit the home power network, giving Tesla its own version of a walled garden á la Apple.

Of course, substantial challenges stand in the way of this lofty scheme — both from slow-moving regulators and strong-arming utilities.

It's not clear whether Tesla has the resources and power to realize such a plan. Wall Street certainly doesn't seem to think so at the moment.

But Musk, who recently committed to send a manned mission to settle Mars with his SpaceX venture, is not one to be deterred by astronomical odds.

"Global warming is a serious crisis, and we need to do something about it," Musk said. "We need to do everything we possibly can to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy."

"Save us, Elon!" an enthusiastic crowd member called out.