Hyliion Holdings Corp. shares dropped sharply after Pelican Way Research labeled its critical $133-million letter of intent with VFG Tech Holdings a "sham."
- Pelican Way Research alleges that Hyliion’s recent $133-million agreement with VFG Tech Holdings, which sparked a 150% stock rally, is an empty marketing ploy.
- The report claims Hyliion has a systemic pattern of failing to execute, highlighting its total collapse and 2023 abandonment of its original electric truck business.
- While Hyliion generated just $8 million in aggregate revenue from FY21 through FY25, founder and CEO Thomas Healy was compensated $15.4 million, and total insider pay reached $29 million over the same timeframe.
Hyliion Holdings Corp. (HYLN) shares plunged 16% on Tuesday following the release of a short-seller report from Pelican Way Research that questioned the legitimacy of a major customer agreement that had recently driven the green-energy company’s valuation up by approximately 150%.
Pelican Way Research announced a short position in Hyliion, stating that the company’s recent letter of intent (LOI) to sell up to 250 KARNO power generation cores to VFG Holdings is fundamentally misrepresented.
The activist research firm claimed that VGF lacks the financial capabilities or structural substance to support an estimated $133 million order, which makes up roughly one-third of Hyliion's publicized $400 million sales pipeline.
HYLN stock is on-track to record its worst one-day decline since May last year.
HYLN-VFG Deal: Pelican Way Findings
According to public records cited in the report, the counterparty—legally named VFG Tech Holdings, LLC—was registered in Delaware just months ago on January 5, 2026.
Corporate diligence revealed the startup has no listed physical address, features an active staff of just four employees on LinkedIn, and hosts a barely functioning two-page website consisting only of a home page and a contact form.
Pelican Way further noted that VFG's founder, Jason Green, splits his time running a separate, un-funded AI infrastructure company called Artificial By Design.
The report also alleged that the deal was strategically timed to spark stock hype as Hyliion’s capital reserves dwindle. Burning approximately $50 million annually with only $139.3 million left in current assets as of late March 2026, the short seller warned that Hyliion is likely leveraging the recent stock run-up to prepare an imminent share dilution.
From EV Trucks To AI Hype
This is not Hyliion's first pivot into a trendy technology market, according to Pelican Way. Founded by Thomas Healy, the company originally went public in 2020 via a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) merger as an electric vehicle truck venture. The company's baseline presentation at the time projected 34,500 units sold and $2 billion in revenue by 2024.
Pelican Way calculated that the company generated less than $1 million in revenue during 2023 and delivered only an estimated 29 trucks over its lifespan. Following the collapse of the EV business, Hyliion pivoted to stationary power generation, acquiring its current KARNO generator technology from General Electric (GE) in 2022 for $37 million.
The short-seller pointed out that GE sold the un-commercialized technology cheaply because there was no external market interest for it.
"The commercialization and production has consistently been promised yet never delivered," the report stated, pointing out that Hyliion recently missed its revised fiscal year 2025 revenue guidance by more than 65%, bringing in just $3.5 million against a net loss of $57.2 million.
Sky-High Executive Salaries
A significant portion of Pelican Way's report targeted internal corporate governance and capital allocation. Financial filings show that between fiscal year 2021 and fiscal year 2025, Hyliion brought in a total of $8 million in cumulative revenue. Over that exact same period, CEO Thomas Healy was paid $15.4 million in total compensation.
When combined with an additional $13.5 million distributed to other corporate executives, company insiders extracted roughly $29 million in shareholder funds—exceeding Hyliion's entire five-year revenue base by more than 360%.
Hyliion has not yet issued a formal public response to the activist short report.
HYLN Stock: Retail View
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits was ‘neutral’ with ‘low’ message volumes. Retail chatter on the stock has jumped 191% over the previous session and gained 63% over the past week.
One user highlighted exiting from the stock.
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HYLN stock has gained nearly 215% year-to-date.
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