Dive Brief:
- Hydrogen fuel cell technology manufacturer Hyzon Motors plans to liquidate and dissolve, the company’s board of directors agreed Thursday, pending stockholder approval, according to a securities filing.
- The company also approved layoffs for all workers at its Bolingbrook, Illinois, and Troy, Michigan, facilities along with the majority of its other remaining employees in the two states. The company is headquartered in Bolingbrook.
- Hyzon will continue to consider strategic alternatives, which it had been doing with third-party advisers since June. “To date, no viable strategic alternatives are available to the Company,” the filing said.
Dive Insight:
Hyzon’s cash burn and equity fundraising challenges put the startup on a timer to scale operations with steady revenue-generating streams.
The company had limited capital, and executives noted they lacked enough liquidity to support operations beyond another 12 months without an infusion of cash, according to an annual report filed in March.
In Q3, it had $30.4 million in cash and cash equivalents and sought to lower its monthly cash burn to $6.5 million by the end of the year. Hyzon burned through nearly $25 million in Q3.
Created as a spinoff from Singapore-based Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies, Hyzon started in upstate New York in 2020 before relocating its headquarters in 2023 to Illinois, selling its New York property to bring in cash.
As of December 2023, the company had 355 employees globally, with 215 of those in the U.S., according to a company fact sheet. But in June 2024, the company announced it planned to concentrate development in North America markets and the refuse industry.
Hyzon isn’t the only zero-emission OEM struggling to continue. A court this week granted electric truck and bus maker Lion Electric an opportunity to stave off creditors as it pursues bankruptcy protection. Lion seeks to restructure and continue operations.
Hyzon will meet with stockholders about its wind-down plans — while still considering alternatives and the ability to pivot from the dissolution plan.
“The Company intends to call a special meeting of its stockholders to seek approval of a plan of dissolution and expects to file proxy materials relating to the special meeting with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) as soon as practicable,” the filing said.
