The company, backed by Amazon and Ford, has delivered only 156 trucks so far, but its market worth approaches that of Ford.
Tuesday’s losses put Tesla’s stock down more than 11 percent this week.
The company updated registration documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.
Elon Musk announced the move at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, hosted at a factory Tesla is building near Austin.
Activist shareholders have submitted five proposals to compel Tesla to disclose more information about its efforts to diversify its work force, how it handles employee disputes and its human rights record.
The company, which is backed by Amazon and Ford, is seeking to sell shares in one of the biggest initial public offerings of the year.
The deal could result in the sale of the struggling automaker’s Ohio factory to Foxconn. Lordstown is under federal investigation and needs more cash to mass-produce an electric pickup truck.
The United States has about 100,000 public chargers, far fewer than Europe and China. It needs 10 times as many, auto experts say, to complete the switch from combustion engine vehicles.
The activist short-seller behind Hindenburg Research has become known for research that sends companies’ stock sinking. He says he’s not in it just to move share prices.
Federal prosecutors charged Mr. Milton with misleading investors about the technology for battery- and hydrogen-powered vehicles Nikola had hoped to manufacture.