Nikola, the manufacturer of zero-emission semi-trucks, announced last Friday that its Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Anastasiya Pasterick, has resigned from her position after assuming the role earlier this year. During this interim period, financial leaders will report directly to CEO Stephen Girsky, the company stated.
Pasterick’s departure is the latest in a series of executive challenges for Nikola, and it follows closely after former CEO and founder Trevor Milton was found guilty of fraud and ordered to pay $165 million in damages. Milton had been indicted in 2021 on three counts for making misleading statements about the capabilities of Nikola’s Tre battery-operated truck.
The changes in leadership follow Nikola’s release of its Q3 earnings earlier this month, revealing a significant loss. However, the company reported raising $250 million in Q3, increasing unrestricted cash by $136.2 million and tripling unrestricted cash since Q1 2023.
We are driving forward, capitalizing on our first-mover advantage with our hydrogen fuel cell electric truck and laying the foundation for the ‘hydrogen highway’ starting in California. We think the competition is well behind us and believe there is white space for us to capture market share with the introduction of the Advanced Clean Fleets Rule, and incentives like HVIP and ISEF offering up to $288,000 and $408,000, respectively, per hydrogen fuel cell electric truck in California,” said Nikola CEO Steve Girsky in a company statement.
Nikola also announced that, to date, it has received 277 non-binding orders for the hydrogen fuel cell electric truck. Worth noting, however, that in August this year, it issued a voluntary recall for the electric truck after investigations revealed that the compromise of the battery packs was not limited to the coolant manifold.
Costs to Nikola for this recall and repair are expected to be approximately $61.8 million, the company states, which include the cost to re-engineer, validate, and retrofit the electric trucks that were previously sold with an alternative battery pack solution.