Sue Ozdemir has resigned as CEO of the Calgary-based electric vehicle (EV) tech firm Exro Technologies shortly after laying off 60 employees to save cash.
Exro stock is trading at two cents per share following Ozdemir’s resignation.
Ozdemir will continue to serve on Exro’s board of directors while the company seeks an interim CEO, according to a statement. In the meantime, the board appointed Exro strategic advisor Chris Rankin as “chief restructuring officer.” BetaKit reached out to Exro for comment but did not receive a response.
This isn’t a unique role for Rankin. According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously served as chief restructuring officer for turnkey electric scooter platform Bird. There, he claims he led the company through the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process, raised liquidity, helped negotiate lower vendor prices, and completed a sale of the company. BetaKit has so far found no evidence of Exro declaring bankruptcy.
Much like at Bird, Rankin joins Exro months after it was threatened with a proposed class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that the company misrepresented revenue projections related to its acquisition of SEA Electric in early 2024.
“The defendants’ representation that Exro Technologies would achieve a revenue of over $200 million in 2024 was delusional,” the statement of claim reads.
Shortly after the legal threat, Exro began an ongoing strategic review process, soliciting potential buyers for its intellectual property, technology, and “certain limited components” of its business.
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Founded in 2014, Exro aims to “bridge the performance-cost gap in e-mobility” through its coil drive, which is an adaptive EV traction inverter that prioritizes power and torque at different speeds. Exro’s stock price on the Toronto Stock Exchange has been steadily declining for years. Its 52-week trading high is 34 cents per share, and it currently rests at two cents per share following Ozdemir’s resignation. Exro stock traded at more than $6.50 per share in 2021.
In May, amidst the strategic review process, Exro struck a deal with an undisclosed “long-term institutional shareholder” to stay afloat with a $30 million USD ($42 million CAD) loan facility. In its second-quarter earnings last month, the company reported that it had used one-third of that facility. Exro also reported only $2.9 million in revenue and an $81.7 million net loss from continued operations, mostly in non-cash costs.
The company laid off 60 workers to preserve its limited cash reserves last week. Most of the affected employees worked in the cell driver (battery storage) and coil driver (EV traction inverter) units. Several operational support staff from SEA were also let go, Exro said in a statement.
Not long ago, Exro opened a 37,000-square-foot facility in Calgary. It has the capacity to annually produce 100,000 coil drivers. Exro only sold 41 e-propulsion units to customers in the first six months of 2025, according to its latest earnings report.
Feature image courtesy Exro via LinkedIn.