Android app built with "make project" crashes, but not when installed with "Run"

We're building an app which uses HighCharts Android wrapper library*. During development, the app is installed on devices/emulators via the Run command, and everything works fine.

But, when making a build view Make Project, Generate Signed APK, or builds produced by CI/DC Pipelines - the app always crashes.

The crash occurs somewhere when Highcharts calls Gson (which needs to be externally provided as a dependancy for it in Gradle build file). Gson then throws a java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException exception. (stacktrace below)

what it's not:

1. Not related to Android version. tested on API's 29, 25, 23
2. Not device related. Happens on Physical devices and emulators running clean android.
3. Not Proguard related (I think) - happens also on debug builds, and also aggressive keep statements were added just to be on the safe side.
4. Same charts work properly on our website and iOS app.

Maybe related:

Highcharts Android is not yet compatible with Hilt DI, which is deeply embedded in our code. Apparently, Highcharst expects the Context provided to it's View constructor to be of Activity type, which is broken with Hilt since in injects a FragmentContextWrapper into Fragments annotated with @AndroidEntryPoint. description and workaround here

What I'm trying to understand:

What could be the difference in the output .APK built during Run and Make?

A full description of the crash, with example code, can be found here

---

* HighCharts is a JS charting library. The Android Highcharts library is a Java wrapper for JS that runs on a custom WebView. The API is also Java Objects and functions wrapping JS code.

Stacktrace:

2020-07-30 09:39:25.679 5627-5627/com.app.android.debug E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: com.app.android.debug, PID: 5627
    java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: length=0; index=0
        at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.getGenericSupertype($Gson$Types.java:240)
        at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.getSupertype($Gson$Types.java:272)
        at com.google.gson.internal.$Gson$Types.getCollectionElementType($Gson$Types.java:290)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.CollectionTypeAdapterFactory.create(CollectionTypeAdapterFactory.java:52)
        at com.google.gson.Gson.getAdapter(Gson.java:423)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.write(TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.java:56)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.CollectionTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(CollectionTypeAdapterFactory.java:97)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.CollectionTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(CollectionTypeAdapterFactory.java:61)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.write(TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.java:69)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:208)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:145)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.write(TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.java:69)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:208)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:145)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.write(TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.java:69)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:208)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:145)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.write(TypeAdapterRuntimeTypeWrapper.java:69)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:208)
        at com.google.gson.internal.bind.MapTypeAdapterFactory$Adapter.write(MapTypeAdapterFactory.java:145)
        at com.google.gson.Gson.toJson(Gson.java:669)
        at com.google.gson.Gson.toJson(Gson.java:648)
        at com.google.gson.Gson.toJson(Gson.java:603)
        at com.google.gson.Gson.toJson(Gson.java:583)
        at com.highsoft.highcharts.core.i.a(SourceFile:8)
        at com.highsoft.highcharts.core.f.c(SourceFile:2)
        at com.highsoft.highcharts.core.HIChartView$q0.update(SourceFile:4)
        at java.util.Observable.notifyObservers(Observable.java:163)
        at java.util.Observable.notifyObservers(Observable.java:115)
        at com.highsoft.highcharts.core.HIFoundation$a.update(SourceFile:4)
        at java.util.Observable.notifyObservers(Observable.java:163)
        at java.util.Observable.notifyObservers(Observable.java:115)
        at com.highsoft.highcharts.common.hichartsclasses.HISeries.setData(SourceFile:3)
        at com.app.android.ui.customviews.hicharts.LineGraphChart$applyDataSet$1.run(LineGraphChart.kt:256)
        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:883)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:100)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7397)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:492)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:935)

from Android app built with "make project" crashes, but not when installed with "Run"