Richmond battery start-up Moxion abruptly "furloughs" workers
Richmond’s Moxion Power, the purveyors of “Good Energy and Radical Power,” notified its staff last week that their jobs would be “furloughed,” leaving employees scrambling to find other job opportunities.
Last month, Moxion filed a WARN notice with the Employment Development Department, stating the planned layoffs in August would impact “up to 101 employees” at the company’s Richmond location at the Ford Assembly Building.
Linda Hemmila
According to reports, Moxion has not secured solid financial backers to invest in its alternative energy company, which has left the company without the financial footing necessary to operate, indicating the 4-year-old company will, in all probability, shut down.
Despite recent events, the battery manufacturer still boasts open positions on its career page.
Moxion Power was expected to be the tenant of Richmond’s still-under-construction Portside Commerce Center located at 1411 Harbour Way South at Ford Point. The project includes 18,798 square feet of warehousing/manufacturing space and 30,097 square feet of office space.
Construction continued on the project following last month’s announced layoffs, but fewer workers were seen at the site. The pace of construction appears to have slowed in recent weeks, with contractors focused on installing the roof on the sprawling building.
According to former Richmond Mayor Tom Butt’s E-Forum newsletter on July 22, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is poised to approve permits for the Portside Commerce Center, which had yet to be approved.
“With no public hearing, BCDC is prepared to approve a permit for the “Portside Commerce Center.” Butt wrote.
Previously Butt told Grandview he didn’t think the port of Richmond was an appropriate location for a battery manufacturer.
“This is in a BCDC Port Priority Area, which is supposed to be reserved for Port uses. Moxion has no relationship to a port, but both BCDC and the City of Richmond caved in and permitted it. Politics is stronger than public policy. Shame on them both,” Butt said
SunPower, another tenant at the Ford Building in Richmond, also seems to be on the verge of collapse.
According to an article that appeared on Time magazine's website, the solar company said on July 17 that it would "no longer be supporting new leases or power purchase agreements."
Time also reported that "last December, SunPower said it might not be able to continue as a going concern because it breached a key term in a credit agreement. The company then said in February that it needed additional time to complete its quarterly financial statement; the Nasdaq later informed SunPower it was out of compliance for not filing its forms in a timely fashion. SunPower also acknowledged that past financial reports “should no longer be relied upon” because of accounting errors," Time said.
This week, SunPower Corporation shares were down 98% from their peak in 2021.
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