SolarCity Releases New Type of Solar Panels in Response to Decreasing Growth in the Industry

One of the biggest complaints that homeowners have against solar panels is that they "look ugly." Homeowners claim that the normal glass and metal panels clash with the look of their house and negatively affect the feel of the neighborhood. Fortunately for them, Elon Musk, the chairman of SolarCity, has revealed a whole new line of solar panels that look more like regular roofing tiles. Ivan Penn and Russ Mitchell, in their L.A. Times article, discuss what this innovation means for consumers and how it ties into all of the other technology being designed by Musk's companies.

Not only do these re-designed solar panels address the "ugliness" issue, but Musk also hopes that these panels will provide homeowners with more of an incentive to invest in one of Tesla's wall-mounted batteries. When the sun is shining, the tiles provide energy for current use and charge up the battery. When the sun isn't shining, the charge in the battery can be used to provide energy for the house. Eventually, he hopes that every home will have its own personal "alternative energy ecosystem" made up of Tesla and SolarCity devices. His goal is for green-minded homeowners to mix electric vehicles, charging stations, solar rooftops, and wall-mounted batteries to create the perfect blend for an energy-efficient home. Realistically, all of those devices are very pricey, so the components are sold separately, but Musk makes it clear that they work best as a total system.

Analysts believe that SolarCity's big announcement regarding the new-and-improved solar panels was due to the slowing growth of Southern California's solar industry. Where solar panel sales rose by 66% in the first three quarters of 2015 compared to the previous year, sales only rose by 12% in the same period of 2016. They believe the slowing growth is caused by the dwindling number of early adopters for the technology. The hope is that the new style of solar panels and the introduction of Tesla's new Powerwall home electricity storage batteries will help them quickly move on to the early majority segment of potential customers. Additionally, the slowing growth could be due to changes in state and local regulations. Rules are changing regarding how solar companies can sell their energy to utility companies, and tax credits for green energy are running out, so it becomes a less affordable proposition by the day.

Still, overall, analysts believe that the solar industry will continue expanding through the end of 2016. Prices on solar panels and wall-mount batteries are continuously going down, which helps those on the fence to make a decision. It is believed that overall sales in the solar industry will reach $38 billion by 2025, from $3 billion in 2016. While utility companies and local regulators have been targeting solar providers, making their costs rise, the solar companies have responded by partnering with electricity storage companies. It is sensible that a package of solar energy with a way to store it can be optimal based on customer demands. But, Musk already has a head-start on everyone else, since Tesla and SolarCity already make up their own strategic alliance. If other companies want to catch up, they will have to figure out a way to cut costs significantly, or accept lower profits until they have been able to get a substantial market share.

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Consumers Aren't as Enthusiastic About Self-Driving Cars as the Industry Would Hope

To the automobile industry, self-driving cars are the next big thing. On its own, the principle seems amazing. A consumer can sit down in a car, input a destination, and just relax until the journey is complete. There's no more need to stress out at the amount of traffic or worry about getting into an accident. Many of the self-driving cars even make it possible for the passengers to take a nap on long trips. While car producers and ride-sharing services believe that self-driving cars will be the most popular thing since sliced bread, according to Tracey Lien's L.A. Times article, consumers aren't as excited about the new technology.

 A recent study performed by Kelly Blue Book involved questions posed to a group of interviewees representative of the general American population, based on this year's census figures. The numbers gathered by the survey were surprising to the self-driving car industry, to say the least. Approximately 80% of participants in the survey don't want to give complete control to the car. They want to always have the ability to turn off the self-driving feature and drive manually. One of the biggest attractions of a self-driving car is that the passengers no longer have to go through the stress and tediousness that driving entails. However, the survey found that 62% of participants not only are willing to drive but actually enjoy the action of driving.

When asked about fully self-driving vehicles, which companies like Google and Uber have been working on developing, one-third of people said they would be completely unwilling to buy such a car. The lack of steering wheel and gas/brake pedals is unsettling for many drivers. Additionally, 62% of people responded that they would not want to live in a world where every vehicle was autonomous. Of the people surveyed, the youngest group (12- to 15-year-olds) were the most interested in a world full of autonomous cars, but even among them, 33% still were still doubtful.

Part of the reason that the people surveyed were against the concept of self-driving cars was that they don't know enough about the concept. Many worry about the science-fiction behind self-driving cars. So many movies have been made depicting smart vehicles as the first step along the path to global domination of machines over man. Even with all of the articles and advertisement about the benefits and drawbacks of self-driving vehicles, 25% knew nothing, 35% knew little, and 28% knew some about the topic. If automobile producers want to raise interest, they should focus on educating people about the facts of self-driving cars.

The most encouraging fact discovered by the survey is that the most participants showed interest in "Level 4" classification of self-driving cars. Under Kelly Blue Book's system, "Level 4" is a type of vehicle that has the ability to drive on its own, but can easily be taken over by a driver if they need to. Whenever the concept of a completely computer-controlled car was mentioned, however, participants reacted negatively. People tend to be nervous about new concepts, especially when it comes to new types of technology. A self-driving car is seen by the more hesitant consumers as a potentially dangerous new technology that may provide more risk than benefit. To address that significant portion of the market, the producers of the self-driving vehicles may need to focus on giving them more first-hand experience. Simply offering test drives could be enough to push wary buyers more onto the pro-autonomy end of the spectrum.

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Find out more about us at www.sepulvedaescrow.net. Any Questions? Contact our Escrow Expert! Sepulveda Escrow Corporation (818) 838-1831. Follow our company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

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