PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Phoenix-based electric vehicle maker has announced nearly 900 layoffs in Arizona as it runs low on cash.

Nikola filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week, and with that came staff cuts at two locations in the state.

According to WARN Notice filings with Arizona Job Connection, 855 employees are affected by the layoffs: 540 at the corporate office on Broadway Road in Phoenix and 315 at the manufacturing facility in Coolidge.

It’s unclear which positions were laid off at the two locations.

Nikola was a hot start-up and rising star on Wall Street before becoming enmeshed in scandal and its founder was convicted in 2022 for misleading investors about the Arizona company’s technology.

At the trial of founder Trevor Milton, prosecutors say a company video of a prototype truck appearing to be driven down a desert highway was actually a video of a nonfunctioning Nikola that had been rolled down a hill.

But the hype around the company was immense. In 2020, Nikola was valued at around $30 billion, exceeding the market capitalization of Ford Motor Co.

The company has had difficulty scaling its business, which mostly focused on EV trucks.

In the third quarter, Nikola produced 83 trucks but recorded a net loss of almost $200 million. It produced 77 trucks in the second quarter, with a net loss of nearly $134 million.

Nikola filed for protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware and said Wednesday that it has also filed a motion seeking approval to pursue an auction and sale of the business.

The company has about $47 million in cash on hand.

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