Income Taxes - Additional Information (Detail) - USD ($)	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Provision for income taxes	$ 26,698,000	$ 13,039,000	$ 9,404,000
Deferred Tax Assets Valuation Allowance	1,022,705,000	668,432,000
Increase in valuation on deferred taxes	354,300,000
Deferred tax assets, net	731,463,000	190,469,000
Research and development credits	208,499,000	73,068,000
Deferred tax liability	0
Unrecognized tax benefits, that would not affect effective tax rate	198,300,000
SolarCity [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Increase in valuation on deferred taxes	169,300,000
Foreign jurisdictions [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Deferred tax assets, net	33,100,000
Federal [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Operating loss carry-forwards		4,340,000,000
Operating loss carry-forwards, related to stock options benefits recorded as additional paid-in capital	$ 2,390,000,000
Operating loss carry-forwards beginning to expire in the year	Dec. 31, 2024
Research and development credits		153,000,000
Research and development tax credits, federal carry-forwards expiration date	2024
General business tax credit		105,500,000
General business tax credits, beginning to expire in the year	2033
Federal [Member] | Minimum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination, years	2003
Federal [Member] | Maximum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination, years	2015
State [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Operating loss carry-forwards		3,010,000,000
Operating loss carry-forwards, related to stock options benefits recorded as additional paid-in capital	$ 1,420,000,000
Operating loss carry-forwards beginning to expire in the year	Dec. 31, 2017
Research and development credits		$ 163,600,000
California | Minimum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination, years	2003
California | Maximum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination, years	2015
U.S. and foreign jurisdictions [Member] | Minimum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination, years	2007
U.S. and foreign jurisdictions [Member] | Maximum [Member]
Income Taxes [Line Items]
Income tax examination, years	2015