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First Mode’s July 22, 2024, warning to U.S. employees was an advance notice, not a final count of job losses. A Washington state filing on August 5 confirmed 65 positions affected in Seattle and Centralia. Before that filing, the company had said the global cuts could reach as much as 50% of its workforce—a possible upper bound, not a confirmed worldwide total.
What First Mode told employees—and what was later confirmed
On July 22, 2024, Seattle-based First Mode told U.S. employees it expected a major layoff round in early August. The company said individual decisions were still being finalized and that affected workers would be notified during the week of August 5. Because the expected U.S. reduction was large enough to trigger federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requirements, the communication served as a blanket 60-day notice rather than a list of employees already selected for termination. First Mode described the cuts as part of continuing business optimisations and global workforce right-sizing. GeekWire reported the July warning.
On August 5, the company filed a Washington state notice covering 65 workers at its Seattle and Centralia operations. That was nearly 40% of its Washington workforce at those facilities. The filing established the Washington figure, not a complete global tally. At the time, First Mode had 258 employees worldwide, including 166 in Washington. The company had said the total global reduction could be as high as 50%; that figure was a potential scale reported before final decisions, not proof that half the workforce was ultimately laid off. GeekWire’s follow-up covered the Washington filing.
The company indicated the wider restructuring could affect employees in Australia, Britain and South Africa; Chile was reportedly excluded from that wave. The July notice went to U.S. employees, while the state filing named Washington workers. Neither should be read as a country-by-country final global count. The available reporting does not establish the final worldwide total, affected job categories, or severance and employee-support terms.
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How the layoffs fit into First Mode’s 2024 timeline
- January: First Mode shifted emphasis from hydrogen fuel-cell powertrains toward hybrid diesel-battery systems and cut about 20% of its U.S.-based workforce.
- February: It opened a 40,000-square-foot Seattle factory.
- April: It announced a strategic alliance with Mitsui & Co.
- July 22: It warned U.S. employees of another major round of cuts.
- August 5: A Washington notice named 65 workers in Seattle and Centralia.
The August reductions were therefore the second major workforce cut of 2024, following a product-strategy change, rather than an isolated announcement. Factory investment and a partnership alongside layoffs suggest the company was concentrating resources on a narrower commercial approach; that is an interpretation of the sequence, not a stated guarantee of future funding or growth. At the time of the reporting, First Mode was majority-owned by mining company Anglo American. Its Mitsui alliance was described as a strategic relationship to advance cleaner energy solutions for heavy industry, not as a full acquisition or financing guarantee.
Why First Mode moved from hydrogen toward hybrid systems
First Mode develops powertrain conversion systems for heavy-duty vehicles, especially mining trucks, with other heavy-vehicle applications such as railway locomotives also in view. Its earlier work emphasized hydrogen-battery and hydrogen fuel-cell approaches intended to reduce emissions from large vehicles. In January 2024, it put more weight on hybrid diesel-battery systems, which can offer fuel savings and lower emissions while continuing to use diesel.
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The company’s explanation centered on commercial timing and costs: the clean-hydrogen economy had not developed quickly enough for customers to support its previous level of investment and scope in fuel-cell innovation. Hydrogen-powered heavy equipment depends not only on workable vehicle technology but also on fuel supply, fueling infrastructure, capital, and customer economics. Those requirements made deployment slower and more complex than First Mode’s earlier business plan could sustain.
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Hybrid diesel-battery systems offered a more incremental option. They can use existing liquid-fuel infrastructure and may require a lower initial commitment from customers than a switch to hydrogen. That can make them easier to sell in the near term, but they still burn diesel and are not zero-emission vehicles. For customers, the trade-off is a more attainable step toward lower fuel use and emissions versus the greater long-term reduction potential of hydrogen or fully battery-electric systems, which face their own infrastructure, range, charging, and cost constraints.
First Mode said it had already tried to reduce nonlabor spending, slow hiring and end most contract labor before proposing further headcount cuts. The reporting supports a cost and strategy reset in response to market timing and customer demand; it does not establish that the company’s technology had failed or that the business was shutting down.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the cuts say—and do not say—about hydrogen
First Mode’s decision is evidence that hydrogen-powered heavy industrial vehicles were taking longer to reach customer-ready economics than the company had planned. It illustrates the gap between forecasts for hydrogen adoption and the pace at which mining customers can justify capital-intensive vehicle conversions and supporting infrastructure.
It is not proof that hydrogen has failed across the economy. Mining vehicles, aviation, shipping, industrial heat and chemicals have different technical needs, infrastructure and economics. Other hydrogen-focused businesses, including Universal Hydrogen and Fortescue, also retrenched during this period, but those cases do not establish a single outcome for every hydrogen market. First Mode’s 2024 cuts show a company narrowing its near-term product focus; the available reporting does not establish its later workforce, ownership or operating status.
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