Harbinger Motors Inc., a California-based electric vehicle startup company, is planning to use the Detroit Auto Show to introduce itself and its electric medium-duty vehicles to the world.
The new automaker’s initial product line will include electric stripped chassis and cab chassis designed for Class 4 to Class 7 vehicles. The company, formed in 2021, expects production of its electric platforms to “scale significantly” in the next five years. A set of vehicles will be piloted in late 2023 by a select group of customers and the company expects to launch volume production at an unspecified location in Michigan in 2024.
Harbinger is one of a few new mobility companies scheduled to have a press conference during media day at the auto show on Sept. 14.
The company is focused on the fleet customer across various industries but wanted to use the North American International Auto Show to reveal itself and its products because “we really wanted to highlight that this is a vertically integrated, clean-slate platform and we think that the most meaningful reveals of those products in the last 50 years have generally been in Detroit,” CEO John Harris said in an interview Wednesday.
Harris and other leaders come from EV startup backgrounds. Harris previously worked at startups Faraday Future and Xos Trucks. Phillip Weicker, chief technology officer at Harbinger, is the former co-founder and head of powertrain at Canoo and also worked at Faraday Future. Will Eberts, chief operating officer, brings experience from Anduril Industries, Canoo and Faraday Future.
Harbinger’s vehicles will offer a proprietary eAxle that combines the motor, inverter and gearbox as an integrated unit to improve energy efficiency, according to the company. The company is finishing up its alpha R&D phase and moving into its beta phase, Harris said. It will have an alpha vehicle and bare chassis on display at the Detroit auto show.
Harbinger is “venture-backed,” Harris said, and has “a couple of strategic partners from the automotive industry but none of them are large OEMs.” Harbinger does have partnerships with tier-one suppliers.
“We’ll definitely utilize the Michigan auto ecosystem,” Harris said. “That’s why we’re going to do that final assembly in Michigan. There’s a lot of great supply base there, there’s a lot of great labor base there.”
khall@detroitnews.com
Twitter:@bykalehall