The archive · Hardware & Devices · Product decision · 2024-2026
Evotrex bets hybrid EREV RVs beat all-electric: $30M Series A, $46M total
Ex-Anker PM Alex Xiao's PG5 pairs a battery with a gas generator for true off-grid RV living; $30M Series A, 90% of orders on the $160K trim.
Evotrex
What the business is
LA-based startup designing the Evotrex-PG5, a 28-ft hybrid travel trailer combining a 43 kWh battery, solar and an onboard gas generator with active towing assist; plans about 1,000 units a year from 2027.
Starting capital：$16M pre-Series A announced after its late-2025 public launch, then a $30M Series A announced 2026-06-09 with GSR United Capital, Forebright Concerto Capital, TTGG Ventures, Pegasus Capital and others, bringing total funding to $46M.
How it started
Alex Xiao, a former product manager at Anker, founded Evotrex in 2024 and came out of stealth in 2025; the PG5 launched at CES 2026 as a self-power-generating 28-ft, 8-in travel trailer with a 43 kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery, 1.5 kW of solar, an onboard generator and vehicle-to-vehicle charging.
What happened
After CES, Evotrex closed a $30M Series A (announced 2026-06-09, total $46M) from Chinese and Hong Kong investors, with Anker among seed investors. Roughly 90% of its order book is the fully loaded Premium trim at about $159,990. The company says it hired its first service employee half a year before its first sales hire, still needs 10-12 months of durability testing, and plans China manufacturing with California final assembly, targeting about 1,000 units a year from 2027.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Evotrex is a two-year-old Los Angeles startup founded by Alex Xiao, a former Anker product manager, betting that the first wave of electric RVs should be hybrid, not all-electric. Its Evotrex-PG5 is a 28-ft travel trailer built around a 43,000-watt-hour lithium-iron-phosphate battery, 1.5 kW of solar and an onboard gas generator, which the company says can generate over 270,000 watt-hours of power per cycle.
The extended-range architecture is the differentiator. All-electric trailers from Lightship and Pebble depend on campsite charging, while legacy makers have been slow — Thor's first EV goes to rental fleets and Winnebago's eRV2 has been in field testing since 2023. Evotrex's gas-rechargeable battery targets the use case where both fail: living off-grid for extended periods, plus active towing assist, V2L power export and remote maneuvering.
On 2026-06-09 TechCrunch reported that Evotrex had closed a $30M Series A from Chinese and Hong Kong investors including GSR United Capital and Pegasus Capital, bringing total funding to $46M, with Anker among seed investors. About 90% of its order book is the fully loaded Premium trim at roughly $159,990 (the base Pioneer starts at $119,990), and the company plans about 1,000 units a year with deliveries from 2027.
The company remains pre-commercial: it says the PG5 still needs 10-12 months of durability testing, it hired its first service employee before its first sales hire, and its China-manufacturing-plus-California-assembly plan is still being finalized. The Series A buys time to prove production economics before reservations turn into deliveries.
What has to be true
- The hybrid choice attacks the real constraint: RVs are taken exactly where charging infrastructure is weakest, so an onboard generator beats a bigger battery.
- The premium order mix (90% at ~$160K) shows the wedge is energy independence, not cheap camping — a small but willing early market.
- Xiao's Anker background shaped the playbook: find real customer demand, control supply chain, and let early buyers evangelize the product instead of paying for distribution.
- The crowded field is a feature, not a bug: Lightship and Pebble educate the market on electric RVs, while Evotrex positions the hybrid as the practical answer once buyers try to leave the grid.
- Service-before-sales hiring sequencing acknowledges the industry's known vulnerability — mechanical integrity — rather than repeating the launch-then-fix pattern of legacy RV makers.
What can be applied
Solve where the product is used: off-grid RVs fail on charging, so a gas-extended battery meets users where infrastructure is absent, and premium demand validates the bet before production.
Aftermath
As of 2026-06-23 Evotrex is pre-commercial with $46M raised. The PG5 is in preorder with production targeted for 2027 at roughly 1,000 units a year; by year-end 2026 it plans an automotive-standard testing and validation program covering towing, range, braking, structural durability and regulatory compliance. Manufacturing locations in China and California are still being finalized. Open risks are production economics at 1,000 units, tariffs on China-built hardware, and whether the hybrid pitch wins against all-electric rivals once charging networks improve.
Sources
- Exclusive: Anker-backed Evotrex raises $30M to build its off-grid RV
- Startup Company Debuts Hybrid Travel Trailer
- Evotrex Raises $30M Series A to Accelerate Evotrex-PG5 Electric RV Production
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