Steve Gawronski has joined commercial EV start-up Harbinger as vice-president of supply chain and logistics. He will oversee procurement, logistics and material planning as the California-based company prepares to scale production of a medium-duty commercial vehicle.
Gawronski was previously vice-president of supply chain and EV maker Rivian and also held supply chain management roles at Tesla before that.
“Steve has incredible experience – and has delivered incredible results – at two of the biggest names in the EV industry,” said John Harris, CEO of Harbinger. “His deep background in leading supply chain operations for fast-growing, high-visibility automotive companies makes him the ideal person to continue our momentum and position us to be the leading producer of EVs for the medium-duty vehicle market.”
At Rivian, Gawronski managed a team of 300+ and oversaw procurement, logistics, packaging, supplier quality, programme management and business systems/analytics. He was also responsible for the creation and development of the supply base to support all vehicle commodity requirements for the Rivian R1T and R1S.
At Tesla, Gawronski oversaw a team of supply managers and supplier industrialisation engineers working on interior and exterior trim products, lighting, closures and seating for the Tesla Model S, Model X and Model 3. Harbinger said he also developed the commercial strategy and spearheaded a localisation initiative to vertically integrate seating assembly and just-in-time manufacturing operations for the Model 3 programme, resulting in a $500M estimated annual savings.
Gawronski said electrification was a significant opportunity for the medium-duty truck market.
“There are obvious parallels between where Harbinger is today and where Tesla was over a decade ago at the genesis of the EV revolution,” he said. “The commercial transportation industry represents a dynamic and emerging opportunity for a similar form of disruption. I’m extremely excited at the opportunity to join a company that is focused not only on offering a cleaner powertrain solution but also on delivering meaningful performance improvements, all at a cost that makes the adoption of electric vehicles a very realistic choice for commercial vehicle applications.”
In September last year Harbinger secured $60m in funding from a consortium of manufacturers for the development of its electrified chassis, powertrains and battery technologies. The investors included Thor Industries, Ridgeline, Greycroft and Tiger Global.
Harbinger said the investment will accelerate progress toward the production of the company’s electric stripped chassis for Class 4 to Class 6 vehicles. In addition, the company is in the process of doubling its workforce over the to 120 employees at its headquarters in Garden Grove, California.
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