Bethesda Tesla store now selling solar panels (Photos)

There are so many Teslas on the road in Bethesda, it's getting hard to stand out driving one anymore. Now you may just have to be the first on your block to buy a Tesla roof. The Tesla store at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda has just begun marketing rooftop Tesla Solar panels, which can generate power to charge your Tesla (and your home). Next up for the booming company will be the Tesla Solar Roof, which will first be available for installation in California this month, and then roll out across the country.

You probably have deep pockets if you drive a Tesla, and you'll need them again for the Tesla roof. The company doesn't say upfront how much their solar panels cost, asking you instead to request a price quote. They are more transparent about the Tesla roof, however: Tesla says one of their roofs will cost the typical Maryland resident $52,000, for which they will offer financing by late 2017.

A Tesla roof makes little sense for retirees, however, as it could take two or three decades to pay for itself and earn you money. But for a wealthy young couple buying their first home in Bethesda, Tesla estimates they could earn $8000 in power generated by the roof over 30 years. And with the Powerwall battery, you can store power for use during Pepco power outages.

Tesla will install the roof, which is quite an advance from a standard solar roof. Instead of putting panels on your roof, invisible solar panels are inside the "shingles." So you are literally buying a replacement roof, just as you would with an asphalt or slate shingles. A 30% federal tax credit will apply only to the solar portion of your Tesla roof, the company says. The Tesla shingles are more than 3 times stronger than the typical roof shingle, as an animation on the Tesla website shows.

The Tesla roof probably will be a status symbol in Bethesda as much as a way to save the planet. With solar in decline as a fad, and power companies having second thoughts about paying customers for electricity they generate with their solar hardware, you'll probably see more Model 3s on your street than Tesla roofs in the next 10 years.

There's a WHAT on Bethesda Lane? (Photos)

A Tesla pop-up has returned to Bethesda Row, featuring perhaps the most appropriate Tesla vehicle for Bethesda, the Tesla Model X SUV. But it's what's attached to the back of the Model X that's attracting the most attention on Bethesda Lane - a vintage Airstream trailer.

The juxtaposition is perhaps softened by the fact that the Airstream's lines were futuristic and ahead of their time, maybe even more than the Tesla's. Perhaps Tesla is wise to the fact that the hipsters of Bethesda are very wealthy hipsters.

Tesla Bethesda Lane pop-up now official (Photos)

Tesla Motors has now announced the Tesla Model S display on Bethesda Lane is an official "pop-up" Tesla store for the summer. The display, which includes information and an actual Model S, will have set hours daily.

Official listing of the
Bethesda Row pop-up
on Tesla Motors' website

It should be noted that this is small-scale compared to more elaborate Tesla pop-ups coming to resort cities this summer. Those are often like tents with more of a showroom-style display on the walls inside.

Tesla on display on Bethesda Lane (Photos)

You can regularly spot Tesla electric vehicles on the streets of downtown Bethesda. But yesterday, there was one on a street usually closed to vehicles, Bethesda Lane. Curious shoppers and diners were lured by the exotic car of the future, and checked out the high-tech dashboard. Tesla has a store at Westfield Montgomery Mall.

TESLA SUPERCHARGER STATION OPEN IN BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

The revolutionary Tesla Supercharger station is now open at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda. Already, Tesla owners are making use of the facility to recharge their vehicles while shopping and dining. When I stopped by yesterday, two Tesla Model S sedans were getting juiced up at the station, which is located in the garage outside of Nordstrom. 

This Supercharger station is less imposing than some of the outdoor facilities, such as the one pictured when I broke the story about it back in January. But while it doesn't have the massive canopy overhead (and, being within the garage, not needing it), the approximate number of vehicle spaces is the same. The location is fairly close to the Nordstrom entrance, rather than being banished to a far corner.

Remember, the charge is free for Tesla owners, another perk of this cutting-edge vehicle.

TESLA SUPERCHARGER STATION COMING TO BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda has a Tesla Store, and now Tesla owners will have a new reason to visit - a supercharging station that will give them 200 miles of range from a 30 minute charging session. The mall's prime location - by 2 interstate highways - dovetails with Tesla Motors' plan to create a nationwide network of supercharging stations that will allow Tesla owners to drive America's interstate highway system free of charge. 

Remember the car-free future the media has been droning on about for the last few years? It's never coming. Tesla and other zero-emission vehicles are here now, and the autonomous car is on the way (actually, they're here now too, but not yet being marketed to the public). And people are going to travel in those cars on... highways. The demise of which has been greatly, greatly, greatly exaggerated.

Tesla's Supercharger station will have several stalls, where drivers will leave their vehicles while shopping or dining at the mall.

One interesting technological detail, is that you can charge 80% of your battery's power in 40 minutes, but a full charge takes 75 minutes. Why is the last 20% so much slower? Tesla likens it to reducing the flow of a water spigot to carefully top off a glass of water. The company says drivers can easily reach the next Supercharger station on the map on an 80% charge.

Supercharging stations can be located on Google Maps via the Tesla Model S dashboard screen.

Images courtesy of Tesla Motors

TESLA MOTORS TO OPEN BETHESDA SERVICE CENTER

ELECTRIC CAR

FACILITY TO OPEN

IN

MARCH 2013

Another Robert Dyer @ Bethesda Row Exclusive

High-end electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors has announced it will open a vehicle service center in Bethesda in March 2013.

The actual location has not yet been announced.

The facility will not be a dealership, but Tesla is opening one in Tysons Corner.  That location will not have a service center, and likely will direct owners to our Bethesda facility.  Tesla's Washington, D.C. location has sales and service on one site.

Where will the Tesla facility go?

You might say, "not Bethesda Row!"  But don't rule it out.  Tesla has a location at California's Santana Row development.  Don't forget:  there's a very conspicuously out-of-place auto repair shop on Elm Street, near Taylor Gourmet and Newton's Table.  Hmm...  Hmm indeed!

There are limited options, as only an industrial site or previously auto-contaminated property like a gas station are eligible.

Other than the Westbard industrial zone, or one of the two shuttered gas stations downtown (excluding Eastham's) Tesla's only real options other than Elm Street would be Montgomery Mall (which is unlikely to use the valuable Ourisman Ford site for more auto uses - but you never know!) or to join with EuroMotorcars as Lotus did.  Think about it.

Stay tuned!