East Bay battery company chops jobs in jolt to green tech sector

RICHMOND — An East Bay green tech company has decided to slash scores of jobs in a jolt to the clean energy sector, less than a year after it had trumpeted its plans for a big-time expansion in Richmond.

Moxion Power has revealed it intends to chop 101 jobs in Richmond in a downsizing that is in sharp contrast to how the green tech company touted its plans for expansion in the East Bay.

The green battery company said the layoffs would occur at 1414 Harbour Way S in Richmond, which is part of the mammoth Ford Point complex perched on the shores of San Francisco Bay.

The company revealed the layoffs in an official WARN notice Moxion filed with the state Employment Development Department.

“Moxion Power Co. is conducting a workforce reduction,” the green tech firm stated in the WARN notice, “As a result, certain employees will be separated from the company.”

The job cuts were scheduled to take effect around Aug. 20, the WARN notice stated.

Moxion Power makes clean energy technologies that are mobile, and used by construction, film production, live events, and disaster response companies and organizations.

In July 2023, Moxion revealed it had decided on a major expansion in Richmond with a lease of space in the East Bay city.

It wasn’t immediately clear what effect the layoffs would have on its expansion or overall hiring plans.

The job cuts affected workers with an array of titles, including battery employees.

“These separations are planned to be permanent,” Collette Zaro, vice president of people with Moxion, stated in the WARN letter to the state EDD.