The company outlined a construction timetable and hiring goals promising an eventual 3,000 jobs in Buffalo with 5,000 statewide, and $5 billion in economic activity.

The new plans abandoned the research center design in favor of the construction of a 1.2 million square foot factory.

[14] In 2015, SolarCity's CEO, Lyndon Rive, stated that the new facility would be key to creating a clean energy-manufacturing market, adding that expansion would not be possible at the Riverbend plant, but more likely in the immediate area.

[16] Tesla and SolarCity employees, along with bankers advising on the deal later said that they were blindsided by the announcement, saying that the product was still in the early design stage.

[16] The president of SUNY Poly, Alain Kaloyeros, resigned in 2016 and was subsequently convicted of rigging the bids to build the factory.

[25] In January 2018, Tesla announced, after testing on employees' roofs, that it would begin installing its new product on commercial customers' homes "within the next few months".

[27] The factory was not able to start commercial production of the shingles until March 2020,[28] and Panasonic left the joint venture in early 2020.

[14][16] A spokesperson for the Empire State Development Corporation, the agency that has oversight of the factory, said that in 2022 the company complied with its investment and employment goals.

At the same time, the company was investing greater amounts in computer hardware made by others to support its AI training programs for its Full Self Driving and Optimus robot products.

[34] To prepare for Tesla’s arrival and a wave of solar-manufacturing jobs, Buffalo built a $44 million training center in 2019.

[35] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, employment at the factory decreased to 474 as of April 30, 2020, and the company requested and received another year to meet its hiring commitment.

[38] The project has faced criticism and legal actions regarding allegations of inflated job promises, cost overruns, construction delays, bid rigging, a perceived lack of effort from Musk, and claims that the deal was, in effect, a bailout of Musk's cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive.

[citation needed] The Empire Center for Public Policy, a fiscally conservative think tank, called the project, "the single biggest economic development boondoggle in American history."

A spokesperson for former Governor Cuomo defended the project, saying the factory site has more jobs on it now than when it was an empty lot where a steel mill once stood.