Tesla's big solar roof unveiling will happen on Friday
Tesla has been hyping up its solar roof product for some time, and the official unveiling is finally near.
Tesla sent out the invitations to show its solar roof product on Tuesday morning. The event will occur at Universal Studios in Los Angeles on Friday at 7 p.m. PT. It will be livestreamed on Tesla's website.
Although the solar roof product was first brought up on SolarCity's second-quarter earnings call, there is no explicit mention of SolarCity in the invitation, though it does feature rooftop images.
On that earnings call, Musk said the solar roof will be "a fundamental part of achieving differentiated product strategy, where you have a beautiful roof. It's not a thing on the roof. It is the roof, which is a quite difficult engineering challenge and not something that is available anywhere else."
Musk has said the solar roof will be integrated with the new version of Tesla's at-home battery, the Powerwall 2.0, and Tesla's charger.
The proposed merger has faced criticism. Tesla has a lot to contend with in 2017 as it ramps up production for the Model 3, and would be adding SolarCity's $3+ billion in debt to its balance sheet.
Musk owns about 20% of SolarCity and is its chairman. Musk is also the cousin of SolarCity's CEO Lyndon Rive.
Tesla recently announced its pledge with Panasonic to produce solar cells at a manufacturing facility in Buffalo, New York on the condition that the Tesla-SolarCity merger passes. The Buffalo plant Tesla has chosen was originally meant to be a production facility for SolarCity.
The plant's initial solar panel production would center around the roof product SolarCity and Tesla have been teasing ahead of the merger vote, the Buffalo News reported in August.