Tesla Will Rent You a Solar Panel

People like to joke that Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk always wants to go to space. But he’s now announced a plan to use a little bit of the solar system to help with your bills. If you live in the right state. Getting Some Sun Tesla is relaunching their solar panel rental program. If you live in Arizona, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New Mexico, you can get a panel for starting at $50 a month, and Californians get it for $65. Musk says that Tesla plans to get Europe panel’d up starting next year. Save That Cash “With the new lower Tesla pricing, it's like having a money printer on your roof if you live in a state with high electricity costs," Musk tweeted, adding that customers could potentially save $500 a year on their energy bills. Customers can also buy the panels outright, if they want. There’s no cancellation fee if customers break the rental contract, but it will cost $1,500 to have it removed, which Musk emphasized Tesla would make no profit from. Going Green Tesla bought the panel company SolarCity in 2016, but the company has struggled to get the service off the ground, losing out to rival services such as Sun Run. But this rebranding with a lower price point shows that Tesla is getting serious about its sustainability efforts. Earlier this year, Tesla’s Impact Report, outlining the effects of its operations on the environment and its respective communities, received nods of approval from Trillium Asset Management, a firm that tracks corporate sustainability. Though Trillium, which oversees around $2.5 billion for socially-conscious investors, added that it would like to see more concrete goals from the company about its plans to green up the world, it praised Tesla for preventing more than four million tons of C02 from entering the environment with its electric and zero-emission vehicles. -Michael Tedder Photo by Adobe