Originally published on Dec. 1
Harbinger Motors Inc. raised $160 million in November from a growing group of investors that now includes one of the world’s largest express transportation companies—FedEx Corp.
“Any vehicle that holds up to our rigorous on-road testing and offers state-of-the-art safety features with lower total cost of ownership is win-win for drivers and for our business,” FedEx Senior Vice President of Safety and Transportation Paul Melander said in a statement.
Harbinger makes stripped chassis that are custom-outfitted for delivery vans and other medium-duty electric trucks.
The Series C round is a major vote of confidence for the Garden Grove-based electric vehicle (EV) maker that was started by John Harris, a former employee at Anduril Industries.
Harbinger currently counts 450 employees, up 50% from 300 in February. This includes contractors. The company signed a lease for an additional building near its Garden Grove headquarters in March and is looking at more facilities as well.
Harbinger reported in January it had orders for its chassis totaling more than $500 million from customers including Bimbo Bakeries USA, the largest bakery company in the U.S., and Indiana-based recreational vehicle (RV) manufacturer Thor Industries (NYSE: THO). Besides its investment, FedEx also placed an initial order for 53 Harbinger EV chassis—the vehicle’s supporting frame and motor.
“The level of investor support we’ve received reflects strong belief in the practicality of our platform, and our order from FedEx demonstrates that this vision is already taking shape in the market,” Chief Executive Harris said.
Booming Manufacturing
Harris told the Business Journal that the company has been focused on building the industry’s best medium-duty vehicles and selling them at the same price as combustion vehicles.
“We build electric and hybrid vehicles here, and we sell those at prices that are directly competitive with our diesel competitors. That’s really important for big fleets,” he said.
Following the Series C round, Harbinger has raised $358 million to date. The most recent funding will go towards investing in capacity to ramp up production volume.
Manufacturing is booming as Harbinger made 25 stripped chassis in one week in November, above its 20-per-week goal that it set in 2024.
“We’re scaling up as planned,” Harris said. “We are running above the theoretical capacity right now.”
If the manufacturer stays on track, Harbinger will more than double its capacity next year, according to Harris.
Capricorn Investment Group’s Technology Impact Fund returned to co-lead the recent funding round along with another longtime investor, Thor Industries.
Previous investors that also participated included Ridgeline, Tiger Global, Leitmotif, Maniv Mobility, Schematic Ventures, Overture Climate, Ironspring Ventures, ArcTern Ventures, Litquidity Ventures, and The Coca-Cola System Sustainability Fund, managed by Greycroft.
Harbinger said it will deliver FedEx’s request for 53 stripped chassis by the end of 2025.
“As we work toward a goal to electrify the entire FedEx pickup and delivery fleet by 2040, this trifecta of performance, price, and operational resilience is what we need to be able to continue to scale,” FedEx’s Melander said. “We look forward to bringing these Class 5 and 6 units into our fleet and seeing electric medium-duty trucking options—like what Harbinger is offering—become more accessible in the marketplace for commercial fleets of all sizes.”
Outpacing the Industry
Harris said that Harbinger has been delivering the chassis and expects to announce the total for 2025 in January.
“Harbinger has always believed that to build the right vehicles, to build them at the right price, you actually have to build them. You can’t just pay people to do it for you,” Harris said. “The result of that philosophy has been a vertically integrated company where we build everything in house.”
This also keeps Harbinger outpacing the rest of the industry, according to the CEO.
“We have more than 50% domestic content in trucks, and that’s incredibly, incredibly rare,” he said. “And because we’ve done it in house, because we’ve done it onshore, we’re outcompeting much larger, much more mature companies at higher volume, with EVs built in house, in California.”
“It just highlights how inefficient the rest of the industry is and how big of an advantage it is to be vertically integrated,” Harris added.
“No one else does this in trucking. As a result, we have great customer traction, and we have a very good sales ramp. Investors look for all of those things.”
Thor Embarks on Hybrid Motorhome
Thor Industries, an Elkhart, Indiana-based recreational vehicle (RV) manufacturer, has a great reason for returning to invest in Harbinger’s Series C round.
Thor was able to see Harbinger’s product up close when the two companies collaborated to create a test vehicle last year, a hybrid Class A motorhome. In September, Thor unveiled the RV offering known as Embark.
“The launch of the Entegra Coach Embark RV represents the next phase of a deep collaboration with Harbinger and reflects our commitment to offer innovative best-in-class RVing experiences to our customers while creating real, sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace,” Thor Chief Operating Officer Todd Woelfer said in a statement.
—Emily Santiago-Molina
