The general counsel of EV startup Canoo has resigned and been replaced by his deputy, the struggling company disclosed in a regulatory filing this week.
Ruiz could not be immediately reached for comment.
Many EV startups are struggling as slower-than-expected commercial and consumer adoption of EVs creates a cash crunch.
The Justin, Texas-based company, which sold only 22 EVs in 2023, has promoted associate general counsel Sean Yan to succeed Ruiz.
Like Ruiz, Yan joined Canoo in 2021, four years after its founding. Both had previously worked in legal roles at Dallas-based automotive-software maker Solera.
Yan has updated his LinkedIn career history to note his promotion, but he hasn’t posted a comment about it. The “About” section of his LinkedIn, likely written during headier times for the company, says, “Honored to be part of Canoo where our mission is to bring EVs to EVERYONE. We are reinventing the automotive landscape with innovations in design, technology, and a unique business model that imagines the full span of a vehicle’s lifecycle.”
Prior to his role as associate general counsel at Solera, Yan was assistant general counsel for nearly eight years at Temple, Texas-based logistics company McLane. He is a 2008 graduate of Texas Tech University School of Law.
Canoo also announced on Tuesday the resignation of its chief financial officer, Greg Ethridge, who will be replaced by company insider Kunal Bhalla.
The company has been hemorrhaging money and in June issued a going-concern warning, though it stemmed its losses for the second quarter to $6 million from a $70.8 million loss in the same period last year.
Canoo is developing a line of highly customizable EVs, focusing for now on commercial applications.
In 2022, it announced plans to deliver up to 4,500 EVs to Walmart. Last year it delivered three vehicles to carry astronauts to the launch pad for NASA’s upcoming Artemis moon missions. Canoo is also delivering at least six vehicles to the U.S. Postal Service.
As part of its efforts to stem losses, Canoo also said Tuesday that it is laying off 30 people—at its Oklahoma City factory, for 12 weeks. It said the move was part of its “comprehensive plan and supply chain harmonization to prepare the company for the next phase of growth.”
Canoo recently relocated its headquarters from Los Angeles to Texas.
The company is led by Tony Aquila, a serial entrepreneur and investor who has made loans to Canoo through his affiliated investment funds. These include a nearly $1 million unsecured grid promissory note issued to the company last month at an 11% interest rate.
Canoo shares trade for about 40 cents each, down from their opening price of $22.75 each when the company went public at $22.75.