Commercial EV manufacturer Harbinger Motors is on a roll. Over the past few years, commercial EV startups have dropped like fruit flies, but Harbinger has seen its sales steadily grow, and has lately been branching out into new markets.

The company’s latest product is an unmanned hybrid-electric vehicle platform for military applications. Under its new defense business, Harbinger Praesidia, the company is working with government customers and defense contractors to configure the unmanned platform for mission-specific applications, including flat-deck logistics, field communications, troop transport, perimeter security and counter-UAS operations.

Harbinger Praesidia platforms are built on the same medium-duty plug-in hybrid chassis used for the company’s commercial vehicles. These defense vehicles are autonomous-ready and designed to be fully teleoperable through Harbinger’s proprietary API. The vehicle foundation incorporates steer-by-wire, brake-by-wire and accel-by-wire technology, and features redundancy across key systems. A six-camera system provides a 360-degree bird’s-eye view.

The defense vehicle platform is available in all of Harbinger’s standard chassis configurations: three wheelbases and several gross vehicle weight ratings up to 18,000 pounds. Harbinger’s series hybrid system includes an electric motor paired with a gasoline engine and generator that can recharge the batteries or supply external power. It has approximately 105 miles of electric range in the standard configuration. The vehicle can export up to 350 kilowatts of power to external systems. It’s designed to operate in temperatures ranging from minus 30 degrees Celsius to 55 degrees Celsius and at altitudes up to 12,000 feet.

Special features for defense use cases include: Stealth Mode, which disables exterior lights and the onboard generator for silent operation with a reduced thermal signature; remote control and teleoperation supporting unmanned operation; and dual-network communications using radio and satellite-based connectivity.

“The government needs vehicles that can support a wide range of use cases without forcing operators to compromise on payload, range, exportable power or durability,” said John Harris, co-founder and CEO of Harbinger. “Our American-designed, engineered and assembled vehicles fulfill this need while supporting domestic manufacturing capacity, which is itself a national security asset. These unmanned vehicles are engineered to help keep soldiers out of harm’s way without compromising performance.”

Source: Harbinger