The struggling electric vehicle company laid off 60 employees last week.
Sue Ozdemir has resigned as CEO of Calgary-based electric vehicle (EV) company Exro Technologies, shortly after laying off 60 employees to save money.
Exro shares trade at two cents per share after Ozdemir's resignation.
Ozdemir will continue to serve on Exro's board of directors while the company searches for an interim CEO, according to the statement. Meanwhile, the board has appointed Exro strategic adviser Chris Rankin as “chief restructuring officer.” BetaKit reached out to Exro for comment but did not receive a response.
This is not a unique role for Rankin. According to him LinkedIn ProfilePreviously, he served as director of restructuring at Turnkey platform for electric scooters Bird. There, he claims to have guided the company through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, collected liquidity, helped negotiate price reductions from suppliers, and completed the sale companies. BetaKit has not yet found any evidence of Exro filing for bankruptcy.
Very similar to BirdRankin joins Exro months after being threatened proposed class action. The lawsuit alleges that the company misrepresented revenue forecasts related to its acquisition SEA Electric in early 2024.
“Defendants' claims that Exro Technologies would achieve revenues of more than $200 million in 2024 were delusional,” the complaint states.
Shortly after the legal threat, Exro began an ongoing strategic review process, engaging potential buyers in its intellectual property, technology and “certain limited components” of its business.
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Founded in 2014, Exro aims to “bridge the performance and cost gap in e-mobility” with its Coil Drive, which is an adaptive traction inverter for electric vehicles that prioritizes power and torque at different speeds. Exro's share price on the Toronto Stock Exchange has been steadily declining over the years. Its 52-week trading high is 34 cents per share, and following Ozdemir's resignation, it currently stands at 2 cents per share. In 2021, Exro stock traded at over $6.50 per share.
In May, during the strategic review process, Exro made a deal with an undisclosed “long-term institutional shareholder” to stay afloat with a US$30 million ($42 million CAD) line of credit. In its second-quarter earnings report last month, the company said it had used one-third of the facility. Exro also reported revenue of just $2.9 million and a net loss of $81.7 million from continuing operations, primarily due to non-cash costs.
The company laid off 60 workers last week to preserve its limited cash reserves. Most of the affected employees worked in the cell drive (battery) and coil drive (EV traction inverter) units. Several operational support staff from SEA have also been laid off, Exro said in a statement.
Not long ago Eksro opened a 37,000 square foot store facility in Calgary. It has the capacity to produce 100,000 coil drivers annually. According to Exro's latest earnings report, it sold just 41 power units to customers in the first six months of 2025.
Image courtesy of Exro via LinkedIn.
