Dive Brief:
- Hydrogen fuel cell technology manufacturer Hyzon Motors plans to liquidate and dissolve, the company’s board of directors agreed Dec. 19, according to a securities filing. The decision requires shareholder approval.
- 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. It 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 debuted a truck, in partnership with New Way Trucks, at WasteExpo 2024. The company piloted its hydrogen fuel cell refuse trucks with several companies in California, including Recology and Mt. Diablo Resource Recovery. GreenWaste and South San Francisco Scavenger Co. submitted orders for trucks from Hyzon late last year.
Hyzon has indicated it hopes to find a buyer and continue with production in the near future, South San Francisco Scavenger CEO Doug Button said via email. Button said his company is still interested in hydrogen fleet technology, given upcoming state emissions requirements, and thinks it “will offer a better solution than EV collection vehicles that are currently available.”
Recology and GreenWaste could not be reached for comment.
Hyzon isn’t the only zero-emission OEM struggling to continue. A court this week granted electric truck and bus maker Lion Electric, which also focused on the refuse industry in prior years, 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. It intends to call a special meeting on Feb. 13 to vote on multiple items.
Jacob Wallace contributed reporting to this story.
