This EV could reboot medium-duty trucking by not reinventing the wheel

In motion, though, the experience is much the same. You’re seated up high, deafened by the clatter and bangs from the empty, boxy body, which, again, is exactly like that built on a traditional truck. The feedback is so harsh that it’s actually difficult to separate the overall ride quality of the truck. Still, even unladen, and thus at its harshest, it’s a far smoother drive than the Ford.

It’s easier to turn, too. The Harbinger offers 50 degrees of steering angle at the front. I pulled off my first U-turn on a narrow, suburban LA street quickly enough to not get honked at by even a single impatient Angelino.

It ultimately wasn’t the plush, hushed experience offered by your average electric sedan, but that’s not the point. By keeping everything familiar, Harbinger CEO John Harris told me Harbinger can offer a product with price parity to those aged, diesel-powered machines. Harris declined to provide formal pricing, but its affordability is at least partially dependent on federal incentives.

Currently, alternatively fueled medium-duty vehicles like Harbinger’s are eligible for the Commercial Clean Vehicle Credit 45W, which provides incentives of up to $40,000, depending on vehicle size and propulsion type.

“Where we’re pricing the vehicles, we need that 45 W if we want to undercut diesel, and that’s what we’re doing,” Harris said. “With 45 W, we can undercut the typical diesel vehicle by a few thousand dollars.”

But even if that credit goes away under the current administration, Harbinger has some price flexibility to remain competitive, he added.

That’s doubly true if you factor in operating costs. Harris says the average cost to operate a medium-duty vehicle like this is $0.50 per mile for fuel, or $0.85 if you factor in all costs relating to the vehicle itself. Harbinger is aiming to halve that, targeting $0.40 per mile. But, Harris says, Harbinger doesn’t need to lean on that total cost of ownership (TCO) logic.