Québec City-based Flo (styled as FLO) is closing its manufacturing plant in Shawinigan, Que. and laying off approximately 80 employees as the electric vehicle (EV) charging tech firm says it’s experiencing difficulties with shifting regulations and ongoing trade tensions.
The company has now reduced its workforce by almost half across five rounds of layoffs, La Presse reported last week, from its 2023 high of nearly 600 employees to its current total of 255. Flo’s website still says it has almost 600 employees, but its LinkedIn insights show a 37 percent drop in users reporting that they work for the company over the past two years, from 476 to 300.
Flo confirmed to BetaKit that it is laying off just over 80 of its employees in both the United States (US) and Canada alongside the Shawinigan plant closure, but added it will maintain some operations in the Grand-Mère region of the city.
In a statement, Flo president and CEO Louis Tremblay said the decision reflected “several challenging realities,” but called it “a responsible step” that allows the company to adjust its operations and accelerate a turn to profitability.
A Flo spokesperson denied reports that the company no longer had access to the New York and California markets.
“Trade tensions, shifting political dynamics—particularly in the US—and inconsistent policy signals around electric vehicles have made long-term planning extremely complex,” Tremblay said. “Despite these changes, FLO remains proudly Canadian [and] our commitment to Canadian innovation and to the North American EV transition remains unwavering.”
Flo declined to detail how trade tensions and shifting political dynamics have affected its business, and what inconsistent policy signals Tremblay was referring to. However, The Logic reported this week that the company has lost access to markets in both the State of New York and California.
According to the report, the inability of Flo’s charging stations to process credit card and contactless payments rules out new installations in California. The report also said Flo was dropped from a New York state charging station subsidization program called Charge Ready NY 2.0.
The Flo spokesperson denied the assertion that the company no longer had access to the markets, saying regulatory environments “evolve over time across different jurisdictions.”
“While it is true that some of FLO’s legacy products no longer comply with current California and New York regulations, we offer other products that do,” the spokesperson said. “Therefore, FLO still has access to these markets.”
“We continue to explore business opportunities with several partners in the United States using our new products,” the company spokesperson added.
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A spokesperson for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), which administers the Charge Ready program, confirmed to BetaKit that Flo was removed from its eligibility list when rules were updated last year. The spokesperson did not specify what rule change made Flo ineligible, but added that Charge Ready’s rules “have no bearing on any other New York State charging station program or incentive.” The Flo spokesperson said the company completed a separate project installing 118 charging stations across New York City’s five boroughs last week.
The Los Angeles Bureau of Street Lighting, which Flo said it continues to collaborate with to operate and maintain its nearly 500 existing charging stations, did not respond to requests for comment.
Founded in 2009 by Tremblay, Flo raised $136 million CAD in equity and non-dilutive funding in June 2024 to support its geographic and product line expansion. The round was supported by multiple government-backed organizations, including Export Development Canada (EDC), La Caisse, Investissement Québec, and the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC). Its recent troubles follow those of other EV tech companies in Canada, including Exro Technologies, Lion Electric, and Northvolt, all of which underwent either strategic review processes or restructuring this year.
Feature image courtesy of Flo.