Tesla's CEO Elon Musk Odd Anderson | AFP | Getty Images

While adoption of electric vehicles is picking up around the world, industry pioneer Tesla is facing a critical juncture and has started what CEO Elon Musk has characterized as a "thorough reorganization" of the company. Shares fell 3 percent on Monday in a mixed market. What's putting the most pressure on the carmaker?

Tesla is losing top talent

Tesla is losing top talent at a time when good morale is needed to help the company meet its aggressive Model 3 production goals. Over the past seven months, at least nine employees at the senior management level or higher have left Tesla, and one is taking a leave of absence. The list includes: Doug Field, senior vice president of engineering and the company's top vehicle engineer, who was announced on Friday to be taking a leave of absence

Matthew Schwall, director of field performance engineering, the main technical contact with U.S. safety investigators

Eric Branderiz, chief accounting officer and chief corporate controller

Susan Repo, corporate treasurer and vice president of finance

Jim Keller, vice president of Autopilot and low voltage hardware

Jon McNeill, president of global sales, marketing, delivery and service

Celina Mikolajczak, senior manager of battery technology, cell quality and materials analysis

Jon Wagner, senior director of battery engineering

William Donnelly, vice president of global financial services and president of Tesla Finance

Jeff Evanson, vice president of global investor relations

Regulatory scrutiny

Tesla is dealing with four separate federal investigations into crashes involving its electric vehicles. The investigations are to evaluate whether Tesla's battery technology or Autopilot systems may have caused these collisions. Its relationship with regulators has eroded in recent months. In April, the National Transportation Safety Board "revoked" Tesla's status as a party to its investigation of a fatal crash involving a Model X with Autopilot engaged. More recently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration contradicted Tesla's claims. Tesla previously said that the NHTSA found its Autopilot technology reduced crashes significantly, but the agency said later that its regulators never actually tested the system's effectiveness.

Cash crunch

Tesla is showing signs of financial distress. The automaker ended 2017 with $3.4 billion in available cash and $9.4 billion in outstanding debt. That debt will come due as Tesla needs more capital to increase Model 3 production and start work on new products, including an updated Roadster, a new Model Y vehicle and the Semi. On its first-quarter earnings call, CEO Elon Musk said, "Tesla does not require an equity or debt raise this year, apart from standard credit lines."

But financial columnist Jim Collins recently noted the company is taking some steps that are unusual for companies with strong finances, including creating a special-purpose entity for certain debt and collateralizing its Fremont factory. Also, Moody's downgraded Tesla's credit ratings recently, changing its outlook to negative from stable, citing "significant shortfall" in the Model 3 production rate and a tight financial situation.

Model 3 manufacturing