Tesla is laying off 285 employees in Buffalo, New York as part of a broad restructuring

Tesla
is
laying
off
285
employees
in
the
state
of
New
York
as
part
of
a
broader
restructuring
according
to
a

WARN
notice
filed
in
the
state.
Most
of
these
employees
worked
at
the
company’s
Buffalo
factory
and
a
handful
at
a
store
and
service
center
in
the
area
per
the
filing.

Earlier
this
week,

Tesla
CEO
Elon
Musk
sent
a
company-wide
memo
saying
that
the
automaker
would
be
reducing
more
than
10%
of
its
global
workforce.
Few
details
have
been
shared
by
Tesla
about
the
layoffs
beyond
that
leaked
memo
which
said
the
reduction
in
workforce
would
help, “prepare
the
company”
for
a “next
phase
of
growth.”

The
layoffs
disclosed
in
Buffalo
comprise
a
14%
reduction
in
headcount
there.

Tesla
took
over
the
Buffalo
factory
after
they
completed
a
$2.6
billion
acquisition
of
solar
installer
SolarCity
in
2017.

The
acquisition
of
SolarCity
by
Tesla
was
widely
criticized
as
a
bailout
for
an
ailing
solar
business
with
deep
ties
to
the
Tesla
CEO
and
board.
Musk
funded
and
co-founded
SolarCity
with
his
cousins,
Lyndon
and
Peter
Rive,
and
served
as
chairman
there.
Another
Musk
company,
SpaceX,
had
purchased
SolarCity
bonds
and
if
the
company
had
gone
bankrupt,
they
would
have
lost
their
investment
as
well.

Empire
state
taxpayers
doled
out around
$1
billion to
build
the
Buffalo
factory,
including
equipment
purchases,
hoping
to
support
the
creation
of
thousands
of
high-tech
jobs
in
the
region.
While
Tesla
said
it
would
manufacture
solar
panels
at
the
Buffalo
factory,
its
efforts
to
grow
its
solar
business
have
faltered
through
the
years.

In
2023,
solar
deployments
by
Tesla

declined
to
a
total
of
223
megawatts,
down
36%
from
348
megawatts
in
the
previous
year.
That
represented
the
lowest
level
of
solar
deployments
for
Tesla
since
2020
when
they
reported
205
megawatts.

Tesla’s
energy
division
still
generates
most
of
its
revenue
through
sales
of
backup
batteries,
also
known
as
battery
energy
storage
systems,
which
are
used
in
residential,
business
and
utility-scale
projects.

Instead
of
manufacturing
solar
panels
as
their
primary
business
in
Buffalo,
Tesla
assembles
Supercharger
equipment
there
and
moved
part
of
its
Autopilot
data
labeling
team
there
previously.
The
company
has
also
told
shareholders
it
would
build
supercomputer
hardware
in
Buffalo.

Early
this
month,

Reuters
reported
that
Tesla
would
be
focusing
efforts
on
robotaxi
technology
and
scrapping
plans
to
produce
a
more
affordable
EV.

On
Tuesday
afternoon,
Musk
wrote
in
a

post
on
his
social
network
X
that
he
is “not
quite
betting
the
company,
but
going
balls
to
the
wall
for
autonomy.”

Tesla
has
not
yet
said
whether
the
company
will
stick
with
its
2023 “master
plan,”
which
laid
out “a
proposed
path
to
reach
a
sustainable
global
energy
economy
through
end-use
electrification
and
sustainable
electricity
generation
and
storage.”

Tesla
plans
to
discuss
first-quarter
results
with
shareholders
on
April
23,
and
executives
are
expected
to
reveal
more
about
the
restructuring
and
strategy
going
forward
then.