Electric medium-duty truck maker Harbinger is entering the Canadian market.

Its trucks are available to order across all Canadian provinces and territories, with dealer Safetek Specialty Vehicles representing the brand.

Harbinger’s platform supports walk-in van, box truck, delivery van and disaster response applications, among others. Canadian availability will begin with electric step vans with more variants to follow, the company said in a news release.

“The industry reception to Harbinger vehicles to date demonstrates a strong appetite for durable, affordable and environmentally friendly alternatives to supplement gas and diesel fleets,” said John Harris, CEO, Harbinger. “The need for EV options is amplified in Canada, where federal EV mandates are more aggressive. Our vehicles not only help Canadian companies meet these mandates, but they are also best-in-class medium-duty vehicles.”

Harris told trucknews.com Harbinger’s trucks are already priced competitively with diesels, even before any incentives are tapped into. Being at cost-parity with diesel is possible through its vertical integration, Harris explained.

“We make everything here in Harbinger. OK, so when you buy a Harbinger truck, you’re getting a Harbinger battery system, Harbinger electric motor, Harbinger transmission, Harbinger axles, Harbinger suspension, Harbinger software, Harbinger firmware — everything on the vehicle’s from Harbinger,” Harris said. “And the result is that all of that excess cost that we would otherwise pay to larger suppliers to do that content, it goes to our customers. So, Harbinger electric trucks right now are priced competitively with equivalent diesel trucks, ignoring incentives and ignoring fuel savings.”

He added: “We wanted it to be affordable in the places with no incentives, which means that for people in a place with incentives, it’s not a free truck, but it’s not that far off.”

The expansion into Canada is also meaningful to others at the company.

“As a Canadian who has worked my entire career in the automotive and EV space, selling vehicles in Canada is a milestone for me,” said Phillip Weicker, co-founder and chief technology officer, Harbinger. “When we founded Harbinger, our goal was to build the best medium-duty vehicles and they just happen to be electric.”

The company says it extensively tested its vehicles in cold weather climates twice a year, in Michigan and New Zealand.

Once assembled, the chassis are delivered to dealers or customers who work with a third party to upfit the body. Morgan Olson and Utilimaster have been named third party upfitters for Harbinger step vans in the Canadian market.

The trucks are backed by a 10-year warranty on the battery, motor and frame, and five years of coverage on the full vehicle.

Wheelbases of 158, 178 and 208 inches are available with power ratings from 140 kWh to 210 kWh (225-338 km of range). Harbinger says electric vehicles are a fit for about 80% of medium-duty applications today, particularly those focused on final-mile deliveries.

In an interview with trucknews.com, Harris explained why the move into Canada is important for the company

“The markets are so closely intertwined,” he said of the U.S. and Canada. “We have such great regulatory alignment. You have a lot of national customers that that operate in both places. For us, it just feels like it would be crazy for us not to be selling in Canada. For EVs in particular, we see it as a positive market, because it’s much more stable. The U.S. has gotten, unfortunately, very polarized on electrification, which doesn’t make a ton of sense to a lot of us. Electrification for the most part offers better quality vehicles, better driving, better driver experiences and lower costs. And it’s sort of a shame that it’s gotten politicized. It’s nice that Canada has avoided that trap. I don’t think that there’s nearly the same level of fractious partisan divide over electrification in Canada. So we were excited to sell in a market that is hungry for the product.”