Elon Musk touts SolarCity's benefit to Tesla

Turning up the sales pressure, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk told analysts Tuesday that he has a track record of proving naysayers wrong and that an acquisition of solar provider SolarCity makes sense.

The electric car maker released a projection that it says shows SolarCity will add $1 billion in revenue to Tesla's balance sheet in 2017. SolarCity will also pile more than $500 million in cash into Tesla over the next three years, Tesla said in a released statement.

But Musk faces the task of convincing skeptical analysts and shareholders. He is also chairman of SolarCity.

Musk said on the conference call that there have been "quite a few naysayers on the national front" and that many of them are the same ones that offered gloomy predictions for Tesla. But Tesla just had a profitable third quarter and is on track to deliver 50,000 new vehicles in the second half of the year. Those critics, he said, have a "batting average of zero."

Just as he did at an event last Friday, Musk touted SolarCity's plans to offer entire roofs made of solar panels made to look like shingles, but he couldn't  offer cost estimates to make them or expected pricing for prospective customers. He simply said the materials to make the shingles out of glass and printing required are cheap, and he's miffed that other companies haven't made a success of solar roofs, rather than the usual panels. It "blows my mind," he said.

Some analysts are supportive. Jon Windham, Daniel Ford and William Grippen of Barclays said in a note last week that a merged Tesla and SolarCity "creates a formidable competitor in the U.S. residential solar space."

There's nothing normal about Elon Musk's solar roofs

Tesla is marketing the deal as the chance to provide a single solution for homeowners — SolarCity's home solar, a Tesla's home battery to store the energy for nighttime use and the ability to recharge a Tesla electric car in the garage from sun power. "I think over time most customers are going to opt for all three," Musk said.

While the ability to market solar tiles at a reasonable price would give SolarCity a key advantage, the company is yet to market solar roofs. Musk says Tesla has a Glass Technology Group that can lend expertise in developing the tiles.

Now, the acquisition must be approved by shareholders in both companies.