Jan 13, 2023 20:00:00

Accusation that just desk work is being done at Tesla's state-of-the-art solar system factory

Buffalo, New York is home to Gigafactory New

York , a solar system production plant that opened to much fanfare in hopes of creating tons of jobs. However, due to a series of failures, such as the inability to obtain important parts due to Tesla breaking its promise to Panasonic, the factory was unable to produce a solar system, and instead performed simple desk work related to EV production. The local news outlet exposed that it was being done.

Tesla's solar factory in Buffalo fizzles - Investigative Post : Investigative Post
https://www.investigativepost.org/2023/01/11/teslas-solar-factory-in-buffalo-fizzles/

According to the Investigative Post, a Buffalo-based investigative news agency, when the plant was proposed in 2013, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo touted the project as a 'green energy revolution.' About.

However, out of the vast site area of 1.2 million square feet (about 110,000 square meters) in the factory built with a state tax of 959 million dollars (about 123.85 billion yen), the business related to solar power generation less than 20% is used for

A current Tesla employee who responded to the Investigative Post's interview said, 'A few years ago, everyone there was involved in solar power generation, but these days there are probably only 300 to 400 people working on solar power generation. There will be no shadow to be seen.'

So what exactly is Tesla building in a factory rented from the state with the promise of producing cutting-edge solar products? Automobiles. Nearly a third of the factory's 1,636 employees, or about 500, are tasked with labeling the images of signs and pedestrians collected by the self-driving software, many of whom don't require a college degree. It is said that it is a typical desk work. The factory also carries out other automotive businesses, such as assembling charging equipment for Tesla vehicles.

Originally, the plant was to be jointly used by two companies, Silevo and Soraa, to launch a new clean energy business. However, since the beginning of 2014, Soraa has withdrawn and Silevo has been acquired by SolarCity, a solar panel sales company. This SolarCity is a company launched by Mr. Lyndon Live, cousin of Mr. Elon Musk.

by

Kevin Krejci

The idea that “Silevo would manufacture the solar panels and SolarCity would sell and install them” made sense, but it ended up being a painting of a cake. SolarCity never turned profitable, lost 710 million dollars (about 91.3 billion yen) in just one year in 2015, and finally had debt of 3.4 billion dollars (about 437.4 billion yen) .

Tesla, led by Mr. Mask, rescued such SolarCity. Mr. Musk, who acquired SolarCity over the opposition of some executives, launched a plan to develop a solar roof at the Buffalo factory.

This solar roof does not install solar panels on the roof, but turns the roof itself into a solar panel. It is an epoch-making product with low installation cost.

However, Mr. Musk's solar roof also failed in the end. For example, the specifications of the product did not match the Panasonic solar panel, and the color of the solar panel was blue or greenish instead of black to match the roof, so it was unpopular.

In addition, Panasonic withdrew from the factory in 2020 as Tesla stopped buying solar cells from Panasonic and started to purchase them from China. Panasonic's 400 jobs have also flowed to Malaysia.

Most notably, government restrictions on labor exploitation in China have slowed the procurement of solar components from China. Also, in the middle of 2020, the factory will be forced to temporarily close due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus infection.

After that, the factory resumed operations, and the production of solar roofs continued as prospects for parts procurement became clear, but production capacity is limited. In this way, work at the Buffalo factory was replaced by desk work for Tesla's self-driving car development.

The development of the self-driving car is also difficult, such as being banned from calling it 'fully self-driving' in California, or being pointed out that it is getting worse rather than improving.

It turns out that Tesla's fully automatic driving beta version is 'worse' instead of improving, and the difference with competitors is clear-GIGAZINE

Aaron Greenspan, founder of PlainSite, a site that specializes in corporate transparency investigative reporting, said, ``Tesla is clearly misleading, if not outright lying, to the state of New York. I'm really amazed at what I've done,' he commented.

Also, Tesla investor and analyst John Engle told Investigative Post, ``Buffalo has definitely been scammed. maybe,' he said.