I'm still rooting for them, but they have appraently thrown in the towel. I still think many of the people who shouted fraud are annoying whiners (along with all those people who are pissed because the Leaf ain't a Tesla!). It's just another manifestation of the "grievance culture" in America we have seen so much of lately.
I don't think the Fenix guys are frauds or criminals or con artists -- I do think they failed to launch their venture at this time for many reasons, both self-inflicted errors and circumstances beyond their control, which all of us are well-aware of so no need to go through it again. The American entrepreneurial landscape is littered with guys who failed, and that's OK. I think the various posts that impugned their integrity and vision were unfair and mean-spirited and yet another example of our grievance-laden social mindset, for which FB is a fertile, and fetid, breeding ground.
That said, I'm also a realist and see the end now. I am also a retiree, with a long career in business, PR and politics so have seen more than my share of con artists as well as annoying whiners, so money is an issue. I filed a charge-back, and will put the money into buying a remanufactured battery locally here in So CA. And I will just shut up and go about doing it without fanfare. I understand it could take months to actually get the money back, but I'm in no hurry (and not concerned because the credit card company protects the cardholder, fronts the refund and ultimately the vendor is on the hook).
I always believed you could get a bear with honey, so have always been respectful and given them the benefit of the doubt. I did have a text exchange with John Bysinger right after filing for my refund and it was very cordial -- apparently, their new capital got gobbled up paying for all the chargebacks (he said it is in the tens of thousands).
I think that between all the refunds (they probably should never have taken pre-payments) and the inability to source their interim pre-owned battery installations after BigBattery dumped them pretty much killed them off for now.
In retrospect, as an outsider, I think they should have just focused on quietly developing their battery service program, forgotten about pre-owned batteries as an interim step, and gotten that perfected and ready before doing any kind of public launch. A big part of their problem was all the bad vibes from making promises they couldn't keep, although hidden from all of us are the technical challenges of developing and implementing the system they originally came up with.
As for the Leaf battery aftermarket, I predict that there will never be another national supplier, nor will Nissan do much more than sell their new inventory at top dollar. It will be left to the purview of local independent shops around the globe, and if you are lucky enough to live near one, great -- otherwise you are screwed. I also see this as a shrinking market that was never very large to begin with (there may be 250K pre-2017 Leafs in the world, and fewer owners willing to put any money into 8 -- 10 year old cars).
Again, I don't think they are crooks, just failed entrepreneurs with an idea that didn't make it due to their own mistakes and the nutty economic climate of 2020. I find all the conspiracy mongers out there to be petty and completely lacking in any understanding of how things sometimes work -- as they say "be kind because for most people life is a difficult challenge."