It’s final: With no more barriers to the deal, Tesla is buying SolarCity. Tesla shareholders backed the acquisition, with an overwhelming 85 percent giving their approval, Tesla announced on the company’s blog. CEO Elon Musk and other ‘affiliated’ shareholders did not vote.
Tesla General Counsel Todd Maron announced the approval shortly after a special shareholders meeting, held for the purpose of voting on the merger, began, according to Electrek. SolarCity’s operations and staff will merge with Tesla and the SolarCity brand will become “Tesla Energy.”
“We would like to thank our shareholders for continuing to support our vision for the future. We look forward to showing the world what Tesla and SolarCity can achieve together,” Tesla wrote on the company blog.
The acquisition will cost Tesla approximately $2 billion. Once the SEC filing is complete Tesla will publish the final results of the vote, describing the affirmative votes as “overwhelming” and “more than 85 percent of shares.”
The acquisition clears the path for Musk’s plans for an integrated energy company, encompassing solar roofing, energy storage, and electric vehicles.
After the announcement of the acquisition voting results, Musk, who will continue as CEO of the combined company, made two additional statements, one about the company’s solar roof project and the other referring to Supercharging and the Tesla Model 3, Electrek reported.
Musk said the Tesla solar roof will cost less than conventional roofs, even before energy tax credits and energy cost savings. According to Musk, the Tesla roof, overall, will look better, weigh less, and cost less than regular roofing.
Clarifying previous statements about Model 3 access to Tesla Supercharging stations, Musk affirmed earlier comments that the Model 3 will not have free Supercharging access forever, but will come with ‘free long-distance charging.” Musk has stated before that when in their home areas people should plug in their cars routinely at home, similar to charging cell phones. With this latest comment, however, the company is committing to support Model 3 owners when they take long trips.
