Legacy automakers are experiencing a sort of existential crisis as they grapple with whether to stick to plans to go all-electric or hedge with hybrids. This sudden appetite for options across the industry is creating opportunity for EV startups like Los Angeles’ Harbinger Motors, which announced Monday that it has developed its first hybrid powertrain for an RV made by customer Thor Industries with 500 miles of range.
Harbinger has spent the last few years developing a commercial-grade EV drivetrain that can power anything from a delivery truck to a recreational vehicle, and it delivered the first one to Thor in March for its electric RV. But Harbinger CEO John Harris tells TechCrunch that Thor brought up the idea of a hybrid option a few months earlier.
“So we went back and studied it, and spent some time with them, and we arrived at the conclusion together that actually, this is a way better solution for Thor based on how they use the vehicle,” Harris says.
That’s because in this case, “hybrid” doesn’t mean a gasoline engine working alongside an electric powertrain. Harbinger is simply adding a small gas generator that can feed energy into the 140 kWh battery pack. That means an owner could get more range out of the RV on long trips without having to stop and charge. It also means they can camp for longer without having to trek to an EV charger.
The RV showed off Monday is just a test vehicle at the moment, though Thor says RVs using the hybrid platform “will be commercially available in 2025” across its various sub-brands.
The approach Harbinger took is what’s referred to as a “series hybrid,” and it’s pretty rare. Luxury cars like the range-extended version of the BMW i3 and the ill-fated Fisker Karma are some of the only modern versions. But with automakers flinching at implementing their dreamy plans to go all-electric, it’s an idea that Stellantis brand Ram has already embraced with the forthcoming Ramcharger pickup truck.
For Harbinger, Harris says the pivot was a technically simple one. The company had designed its EV drivetrain to be highly modular. It comes in one size but can have a different number of battery modules depending on a customer’s need. In this case, he says, the company is essentially just sticking the gas generator and fuel tank in the spot where the last battery modules would typically go.
As for why it took this long to attempt something like this, Harris says he thinks the rapid push for electrification may have held similar ideas back.
“I think that that the right answer as far as powertrain and fuel and transport is, in many cases, subject to a purity test,” he says. “People are looking for like: ‘What’s the answer to [electrification]?’ And if you don’t give the prescribed answer, they’re like: ‘Well, you’re not committed to the true cause and you’re not virtuously aligned with our goals here. And, I mean, that’s the wrong approach.”
