Alex Xiao's Evotrex raises $30M for a hybrid RV that can live off-grid

Why it matters

Evotrex is a test of whether RV electrification moves through pure EV designs or through hybrid systems that accept today's charging limits and solve for off-grid use first.

Alex Xiao's Evotrex has closed a $30 million Series A to finish developing the PG5, a hybrid RV travel trailer built around a battery system and an onboard gas engine that can recharge it away from campsites and charging stations, according to TechCrunch.

The round brings Evotrex's total funding to $46 million. TechCrunch reported that much of the Series A came from Chinese and Hong Kong-based investors including GSR United Capital, Forebright Concerto Capital, TTGG Ventures and Pegasus Capital, among others. Anker, the consumer electronics maker where Xiao previously worked as a product manager, is among Evotrex's seed investors.

That Anker link is more than cap-table trivia. Xiao told TechCrunch that Evotrex is borrowing from the consumer hardware playbook: define the customer need, control the supply chain and let early buyers become the distribution channel. "The first thing is you need to find the real customer demand," Xiao told TechCrunch. "The second is you need to deliver a really good product, and third is: the customer will say the story for you."

A hybrid answer to an electric RV problem

Evotrex is not pitching the PG5 as a pure electric RV. Xiao described the architecture to TechCrunch as an extended-range electric vehicle approach: the RV trailer runs on battery power, while the gas engine serves as a generator when hookups or chargers are unavailable.

That choice puts Evotrex on a different track from all-electric trailer startups such as Lightship and Pebble. It also acknowledges the practical constraint that has slowed electric RV adoption: the product is often meant to go exactly where charging infrastructure is weakest.

Legacy RV manufacturers have not solved that gap at consumer scale. TechCrunch pointed to Thor Industries, whose range-extended electric Class A motorhome is aimed at rental fleets rather than dealerships, and Winnebago, whose eRV2 has been in field testing since 2023. Evotrex is trying to use that opening before incumbent manufacturers turn prototypes into normal inventory.

Xiao was careful not to frame the market as winner-take-all. "We are not afraid of competition, competition is a good thing. We educate the market together, we grow the market together," he told TechCrunch.

The round buys testing, not scale yet

Evotrex is about two years old and remains pre-commercial. Evotrex emerged from stealth in 2025 and showed the PG5 at CES 2026, but Xiao told TechCrunch that Evotrex still needs another 10 to 12 months of durability testing before sales begin.

Evotrex plans to begin selling the PG5 in 2027 and is targeting roughly 1,000 units annually, TechCrunch reported. The fully loaded Premium trim is expected to cost around $160,000, and Evotrex says that trim accounts for 90% of its current order book. Evotrex has not disclosed the size of that order book, the deposit terms or the valuation attached to the Series A.

Those omissions matter because RV hardware companies can accumulate reservations long before proving production economics. A $160,000 trailer can support a premium brand, but it also narrows the early customer base to buyers willing to pay for energy independence rather than a cheaper campsite-connected RV.

Xiao appears to be sequencing Evotrex accordingly. He told TechCrunch that Evotrex hired its first service employee about six months before the article and its first sales employee only in the past month. That order suggests Evotrex is treating service readiness as part of the product, not a back-office function to be bolted on after deliveries begin.

The manufacturing plan still has blanks

Evotrex plans to manufacture the RVs in China and complete final assembly in California, according to TechCrunch. Xiao said Evotrex was still finalizing the locations for both. The Los Angeles base gives Evotrex proximity to California RV buyers and to nearby climates useful for testing, but the cross-border manufacturing plan leaves the usual hardware questions unresolved: cost control, tariffs, quality assurance and service parts availability.

The funding market has been more selective with electric vehicle hardware after years of missed production targets across the sector.

Evotrex's bet is narrower than building a car company, but not easy. The PG5 has to prove that hybrid power can extend off-grid use without recreating the maintenance burden RV owners already know. The Series A gives Xiao time to test that claim before Evotrex asks buyers to turn reservations into deliveries.