Elon Musk, one of the world¡¯s richest men, says a $50,000 abode near Brownsville, Texas, is his primary home these days. He has tweeted that he¡¯s made some improvements to the house, without specifying what they are.
But earlier this year, Tesla Inc. employees traveled to Brownsville to install the company¡¯s Solar Roof on that bungalow and several other houses on Weems Street that are owned by another Musk company, SpaceX. The construction project gave Musk an up-close look at a challenge that¡¯s been vexing him.
Musk has many priorities competing for his attention, but recently he has become intensely focused on Tesla¡¯s Solar Roof, a niche product that enjoys demand from wealthy consumers but has proven to be a bear to install more cost effectively. While Solar Roof is only a small slice of Tesla¡¯s business, it is essential to Musk¡¯s vision for the company to evolve from an electric-car maker to something much grander: a one-stop shop for a household¡¯s clean energy needs. Tesla¡¯s stated mission is to ¡°accelerate the world¡¯s transition to sustainable energy,¡± and Musk has been talking up the benefits of solar and the ¡°free fusion reactor in the sky¡± for years.
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