Billionaire Elon Musk's auto company is going ahead with US trademark applications to sell solar products under the Tesla brand name.  This comes after last week's announcement that Tesla was acquiring Solar City and fold the solar installer’s operations into Tesla's own business.

The six applications cover solar cells and solar modules, including: "Solar energy equipment, namely, photo-voltaic solar modules for converting electronic radiation to electrical energy; and equipment for use in collecting and converting solar into electricity, namely, solar cells and inverters."  Musk said that he plans to sell both Tesla's current products and Solar City's offering under the same roof and to use the same sales force, but the trademark applications suggest that the Solar City name could go bye bye.

The US$2.5 billion offer to buy the top solar company in America still needs to be approved by shareholders in both companies.  But should it go through, it will turn Tesla into a company that will sell you an electric car and the power to charge it.  "This would start with the car that you drive and the energy that you use to charge it, and would extend to how everything else in your home or business is powered," Tesla wrote in its company blog.