FedEx’s $300M Electric Truck Bet Comes as Diesel Costs Soar

FedEx is making one of its biggest commitments yet to electric vehicles (EVs), ordering 2,000 medium-duty electric trucks from Harbinger Motors in a deal valued at more than $300 million.

The vehicles are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2027 and will be deployed in parcel operations across the U.S. and Canada. Harbinger described the order as one of the largest binding orders for electric medium- or heavy-duty trucks to date.

The deal marks a major expansion of the companies’ relationship. FedEx co-led a $160 million Series C funding round for Harbinger in November 2025, alongside Capricorn Investment Group and Thor Industries, and placed an initial order for 53 Class 5 and Class 6 electric vehicles. FedEx subsequently added 20 more trucks, bringing its initial commitment to 73 vehicles.

Now, less than a year after helping finance Harbinger’s growth, FedEx is committing to hundreds more of the startup’s trucks as elevated diesel prices bolster the economic case for fleet electrification. The order also comes at a potentially pivotal moment for Harbinger, which is considering an IPO, according to a May report from Axios.

FedEx’s investment was partly intended to help Harbinger develop medium-duty electric trucks suited to the carrier’s network. At the time, FedEx said it was seeking vehicles that could combine performance, price and operational resilience as it worked toward its goal of eventually electrifying its pickup-and-delivery fleet.

FedEx has said it is aiming for all parcel delivery vehicle purchases to be electric by 2030. With the 2,000-truck commitment, Harbinger estimates the order will enable FedEx to avoid more than 1.7 million tons of CO2 emissions over the vehicles’ operating lives.

“Electrifying a fleet at this scale requires vehicles that can perform the work our robust operations demand while also delivering meaningful economic benefits,” said Paul Melander, senior vice president of safety and transportation at FedEx and a member of Harbinger’s board of directors in a statement. “Expanding our deployment of Harbinger vehicles gives us an opportunity to continue making progress toward our fleet electrification goals while reducing fuel and operating costs.”

Harbinger estimates each of its electric trucks can reduce fuel costs by an average of $20,000 annually compared with the conventional diesel vehicle it replaces. Across 2,000 trucks, that amounts to approximately $40 million in annual fuel savings, or $800 million over a typical 20-year medium-duty truck service life. The vehicles will serve as one-for-one replacements for conventional trucks.

That fuel equation is becoming increasingly relevant for freight operators as disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz send energy prices higher.

AAA put the national average price for diesel at $6.32 per gallon Monday, down from a record $6.53 set Sept. 22 but still about 71 percent above the $3.69 average recorded a year earlier. The sharp increase has raised operating costs for trucking and delivery fleets while making the potential savings from replacing diesel consumption with electricity more meaningful.

FedEx already has significant experience with EVs. According to its most recent annual report, the company operated nearly 9,500 on- and off-road EVs globally as of May 31, 2026, while 50 percent of purchase orders for its owned pickup-and-delivery fleet were electric.

The newest order nevertheless comes with an important caveat. FedEx said in the annual report it is “reassessing the pace and scale” of its EV purchases as its Network 2.0 transformation changes routes, vehicle requirements and infrastructure needs. The company expects to refine its longer-term EV deployment plans as the network redesign progresses through 2027.

Amid that reassessment, the Harbinger deal suggests FedEx sees a strong fit for medium-duty EVs in portions of its network. Pickup-and-delivery routes offer relatively predictable duty cycles and regular returns to operating facilities, making them among the more straightforward applications for fleet electrification.

FedEx is not alone in scaling electric vehicles.

Amazon has continued expanding its electric delivery fleet through its partnership with Rivian. More than 40,000 Rivian electric delivery vans were operating in Amazon’s network by 2026, up from more than 30,000 at the end of 2025.

DHL has similarly expanded beyond electric delivery vans and into heavier trucking applications, deploying more than 150 Class 8 battery-electric trucks in North America while continuing to test and deploy Tesla Semis. Globally, DHL said more than 46 percent of its pickup-and-delivery fleet was electric by the end of 2025, with the company aiming to increase this share to 66 percent by 2030.

Maersk has also expanded electric trucking solutions across its logistics network, with deployments for customers in more than 14 countries. The company has increasingly pointed to improving cost and service parity as a driver of customer interest in electric trucking.