How Tesla’s solar business works in 2026 after killing Solar Roof

Tesla’s residential solar business has been shrinking for most of a decade, ever since the company absorbed SolarCity in 2016. Now, with electricity rates climbing across the US, Tesla is trying to revive it around a new in-house solar panel and Powerwall 3 — while quietly retiring the product it was once best known for.

Earlier this month, Tesla discontinued its Solar Roof, the glass solar tile it launched in 2016. It was always a tiny piece of the business, and its end says more about where Tesla solar is going than where it’s been.