Harbinger Motors Inc., an upstart entrant in the race to build more electric vehicles, is moving its operations from Los Angeles to an expanded work site in Garden Grove amidst a growing order backlog.
Harbinger makes chassis—the supporting frame and motor of a vehicle—that are then custom-outfitted into delivery vans and other similar-size medium-duty electric trucks.
It touts its products as a more cost-effective way for companies such as FedEx to electrify their fleets, as California moves ahead in its mandate for zero-emission vehicles.
“There’s great opportunities here,” Harbinger’s co-founder and CEO John Harris told the Business Journal. “There’s this great market where we can make a real impact on emissions.”
Harbinger’s new headquarters will be in Garden Grove’s Central Industrial District at 12821 Knott St., a newly renovated building owned by Rexford Industrial that spans roughly 165,000 square feet.
Harbinger is expected to move into the building by the end of the year and plans to add an additional 20,000 square feet of space at the site, bringing its total footprint to 185,000 square feet.
That’s nearly five times greater than Harbinger’s prior footprint in Gardena, and marks the largest lease inked in Garden Grove since early 2022.
“We are sold out for the next couple of years right now,” Harris said.
Harbinger cites advantages including more efficiency for the motor and drive train, as well as lower prices than other firms’ electric vehicles.
New Niche
Harbinger’s new facility will be used for research and development, chassis assembly, and battery pack manufacturing, in addition to serving as the company’s principal headquarters.
Harris, whose résumé includes a stint at Costa Mesa-based Anduril Industries where he held the key post of Sentry Tower program chief, noticed the medium-duty truck market has been largely ignored when it comes to electrification efforts, giving his firm a key inroad into the sector.
The name of the company is a nod to disruption; harbinger has many future-looking meanings, including a development that initiates a major change.
The company does not make complete vehicles, but rather two styles of chassis, a majority of which are sold to dealerships. Those dealers then partner with companies called upfitters that finish the vehicle, typically on a custom basis.
Upfitters include Morgan Olson of Sturgis, Mich., and Utilimaster of Montebello.
Harbinger makes the electric motors for the trucks in-house and makes battery packs from cells with much of the process fully automated. The company delivers the chassis with the motors, wheels and tires already installed.
Harbinger said it has seen both dealers and upfitters respond positively.
Venture Capital Backing
Its blue-painted prototypes with Harbinger emblazoned on the side are distinctly boxy like any delivery van while the official classification is called “step van.”
Uses for the medium-duty vehicles include parcel delivery by companies such as FedEx and UPS, as well as commercial utility and services functions.
Harbinger will start with about 75 vehicles to be delivered to customers next year.
“We’ll make it a few hundred in 2024,” Harris said, adding that next year will also be the start of the company’s revenue flow.
A chassis for a medium-size vehicle costs around $45,000 to $50,000 each after the application of the clean-energy tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Before application of the IRA credits, the cost is around $70,000 to $90,000.
Venture capital-funded Harbinger has the backing of heavyweight investors including Tiger Global; Ridgeline Partners; and Maniv Mobility of New York and Tel Aviv.
Harbinger said its seed round of funding was $25 million, but declined to provide information on the total funding raised.
EV Hub
Harbinger counts more than 65 employees with plans to hire another 30 to 40 people this year.
The new plant fits in with Garden Grove’s overall economic development push, especially in the area of technology.
“It will be our first giga-factory,” Harris said.
The move reflects the growing influence of the booming EV market within Orange County.
Irvine-based Rivian Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: RIVN), with a market cap of about $24 billion, has captured much of the attention with its futuristic-looking R1T pickups and R1S crossovers.
The company is a large supplier for Amazon’s delivery vehicles, with the e-commerce giant expecting to count 10,000 of Rivian’s EVs in its fleet by 2030.
Electric vehicle maker Mullen Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: MULN) in Brea recently received a $15.8 million order for trucks from MGT Lease Co. The purchase agreement is for 250 Class 3 cab chassis EV trucks with delivery scheduled to start in August, and complete fulfillment of the purchase agreement by December.
Irvine-based Enevate Corp. is pushing to see its battery technology used in e-bikes and motorcycles by the end of the year, with automobile use to follow in later years, and QMerit in Irvine is making sure that owners can conveniently recharge their electric vehicles.
Last June, President Joe Biden pledged to have 500,000 public charging stations for electric vehicles in place by 2030.
That follows ongoing mandates from the state on the electric vehicle front, with California requiring that all new cars sold starting in 2035 are zero-emission vehicles, including battery electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell electric vehicles.
By 2035, all large distribution trucks must be a zero-emission vehicle.
Anduril Background for Founders of Harbinger Motors
Harbinger Motors Inc. co-founder John Harris once ran the border-protection Sentry Tower program at Anduril Industries, the company founded by OC billionaire entrepreneur Palmer Luckey.
As Harris recalls it, Harris joined Anduril as employee No. 20 or No. 21 following its founding in 2017.
He said he led the redesign of the Sentry Tower program to “get it production ready” in less than three years. He calls his Anduril experience, from 2018 to 2020, “very relevant” to his Harbinger work.
Another co-founder of Harbinger Motors, Will Eberts, also hails from Anduril.
Eberts, the chief operating officer of Harbinger, worked as an engineering project manager at Anduril from July 2019 to March 2021.
Harris recalls Anduril founder Luckey as “an interesting guy. He’s a really nice person to work with.”
