Tesla is currently building its fourth and fifth Gigafactories, one in Berlin, Germany, and the other in Austin, Texas. However, many people are only familiar with Tesla's original Gigafactory, the battery facility in partnership with Panasonic in Sparks, Nevada. Tesla also recently opened a Gigafactory in China.
With that said, that's only four production facilities. The fifth came to Tesla as part of its acquisition of SolarCity, and it's located in Buffalo, New York. The factory's main task is related to Tesla's solar roof project, though Tesla Solar hasn't yet ramped up significantly. It aims to be a major piece of the brand's future. However, for now, it will use its "Gigafactory 2" location for multiple efforts.
New York requires that Tesla have a certain number of employees in order to keep the monies invested by the state. With the solar business making slow progress, Tesla has had to add new activities at the factory, to hire more employees.
Tesla has made multiple attempts to restructure the work at the NY Gigafactory, including a deal with Panasonic to produce solar modules (which has since ended), as well as producing Supercharger stations at the factory.
Now, according to a recent report published by Electrek, Tesla has confirmed that it already hired over 250 people to work on data labeling related to Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Beta. The publication contained a letter to New York penned by Tesla treasurer Yaron Klein. It reads:
"Despite these headwinds, Tesla has been steadily ramping back up GFNY and expanding and diversifying the facility’s operations. Tesla has continued to expand the portfolio of the Power Electronics and vehicle charging equipment manufactured in Buffalo, and we recently onboarded over 250 new positions at the facility to support training Tesla’s autonomous vehicle and full self-driving capabilities."
The article also claims Tesla will be working on power electronics production at the factory. Reportedly, Tesla has already met its investment requirement for New York, but it needs to ramp up hiring by about 30%.
The state is giving Tesla until the end of the year to meet the goal. The company says "it will continue to recover from the pandemic-related impacts and expects it will meet and exceed all of the Agreement’s Year Two requirements by the end of the 2021."
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Source: Electrek