Electric Trucks Save More Bucks, Now That Oil Is Spiraling Up

Support CleanTechnica’s work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe.

The financial and operational case for electric trucks has been building for years, particularly among short-haul fleets that can recharge overnight. The long haul, Class 8 heavy-duty business is a next-level challenge, but meanwhile there is money to be made in smaller trucks, and the US startup Harbinger Motors is here for it.

Electric Trucks From Harbinger Are Coming For Your Fossil Fuels

If Harbinger does not ring any bells, you are not alone. The company is the new kid on the block, having started volume production in April of 2025. The automaker is pitching a business model built around a fully customizable, purpose-built electric chassis. “Harbinger’s electric chassis includes all major vehicle systems, which the company designs and manufactures in-house, including the powertrain, battery system, steering, brakes, and more,” Harbinger explains, by way of pointing out the advantages of ground-up electrification compared to diesel or gasoline retrofits.

“Shared components across Harbinger vehicles help fleets streamline service parts, simplify maintenance, and improve uptime,” the company also notes.

The Latest News From Harbinger

Earlier this week the company announced the launch of its new configurable HC Series Cab electric truck, which takes full advantage of the idea that electric vehicles are large energy storage units on wheels. “The truck also doubles as a mobile power station to deliver sustained power for tools and equipment on any jobsite for prolonged periods of time,” Harbinger explains.

Harbinger is also taking advantage of the space-saving nature of a chassis designed around EV batteries. According to the company, the new HC Series can carry a larger payload than its petroleum-powered cousins.

The HC Series deploys the Low Cab Forward (LCF) configuration, where electric trucks also gain an advantage over conventional trucks. In a conventional LCF truck, the cab sits over the truck’s internal combustion engine. That configuration enables drivers to seem more of the world around them, and it enables the truck to make tighter turns. However, in a conventional truck it can expose the driver to an uncomfortable level of engine noise and vibration. That’s not the case with electric trucks.

Any Bets On How Many Buyers Will Choose The Hybrid Option?

Harbinger is casting a wide net for the HC Series, offering the truck as a 100% battery-powered EV and a range-extended hybrid, too. In the hybrid, an onboard gas tank recharges the batteries when a charging station is unavailable or inconvenient, providing for a range of up to 500 miles.

Up until February 28 of this year, the range extender model would appear to be the truck of choice. Consider the new EV maker Scout Motors (a branch of Volkswagen), for example. The company launched in 2024 with the offer of an optional range extender. As of last year, the vast majority of reservations have asked for the extender.

However, now is not last year. On February 28, US President Donald Trump ordered an attack on Iran and the war has already devolved into a regional conflict. The price of oil has gone spiraling upwards in global markets, hitting drivers here in the US with pain at the pump while making the idea of a range extender a bit less attractive.

One Electric Truck, Many Options

The Harbinger net is also covering a wide range of truck types. “Harbinger ensured the HC Series Cab can be upfit with a variety of bodies, including cargo boxes, stake beds, flatbeds and more,” the company explains.

As for that increased cargo space, Harbinger notes that the LCF configuration allows for longer items on a shorter wheelbase. “The HC Series Cab has a 26,000-pound gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and offers competitive payload capacity to leading vehicles in the segment, while also delivering the benefits of an electric platform,” Harbinger emphasized in a press statement.

John Harris, Co-Founder and CEO of Harbinger, also chipped in his two cents, drawing attention to the interplay between electric mobility and on-site use. “We engineered this platform to outperform legacy diesel options while unlocking new advantages through electrification and our range-extended hybrid system to enable real work in the field,” Harris said.

Among other advantages, the truck eliminates the need to haul diesel generators around for site work. “The platform also supports full power take-off (PTO) functionality to operate hydraulic and body-mounted equipment,” Harbinger notes.

“As part of its power export system, Harbinger is introducing an onboard AC inverter option delivering up to 15 kilowatts of exportable power on both EV and hybrid models, enabling crews to run external tools and jobsite equipment directly from the vehicle,” the company elaborates.

“In hybrid configuration, the system can sustain continuous 15-kilowatt power export through onboard generation, eliminating the need for separate generators and extending operational uptime in the field,” they add.

Electric Trucks Save More Bucks, Especially Now

The last time CleanTechnica checked, the total cost of ownership for electric fleets already compared favorably to conventional fleets in most cases. “Across a range of scenarios, it’s cheaper to own and operate light- and medium-duty electric vehicles than gas-powered vehicles, making a strong business case that now is the time for private and government-owned fleets to make the switch,” concluded the think tank RMI (formerly Rocky Mountain Institute) back in 2024.

That was before President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress killed the federal tax credits for EVs, forcing it to end prematurely in September of 2025 instead of allowing it to die naturally under its initial expiration date of 2032. The savings would have been substantial for commercial EVs, which were eligible for a tax credit of up to $40,000 depending on the type of vehicle.

Regardless of the tax credit expiration, the TCO (total cost of ownership) case for EVs is all the more solid under a scenario in which the global oil market approaches $100 per barrel, which is what it’s doing now.

In contrast, back in January of 2024 the US Energy Information Agency forecast an average range around $80 per barrel for the year, and they were pretty much on the money:

“Monthly crude oil prices in 2024 remained between $70/b and $90/b. Sluggish demand and relatively high supply outside of the OPEC+ countries contributed to the relatively narrow trading range for crude oil despite geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and shipping disruptions in the Red Sea. Several extensions of OPEC+ production cuts also helped keep prices from falling below this range.”

Oh…my. Keeping in mind that the case for fleet electrification was already good at the $80-per-barrel range, now the EIA is forecasting a near-term rise to over $95 per barrel due to Trump’s war in the Middle East. A downward tend could still happen within a matter of months, depending on the situation, but the situation doesn’t look so good right now.

Photo: The EV startup Harbinger Motors has picked the perfect time to pitch electric trucks, despite the premature death of the federal tax credit (cropped, courtesy of Harbinger via email/DropBox).