Author: FutureCar Staff
There is a new crop of electric vehicle startups in the U.S. that are developing electric trucks instead of focusing on battery-powered sedans and smaller crossovers. Among the new electric truck startups is Bollinger Motors, a company that’s building rugged, utilitarian trucks, including a pickup and SUV.
Although electric truck startups Rivain and Nikola Motor are more familiar names to some at the moment, Bollinger Motors has been making steady progress in the development of its electric trucks and the company just moved into a bigger headquarters in Michigan to accommodate the new employees it intends to hire.
The company’s new headquarters are in Oak Park, Michigan, located about 15 miles north of downtown Detroit. Bollinger began operating out of the new facility on Aug 10.
The Oak Park facility is more than four times larger than the company’s old location in Ferndale. It will be the primary base of operations for the growing Bollinger Motors team, the company said.
Bollinger Motors estimates its current team will double in size by the end of 2020 as it works towards production on its all-electric B1 “Sport Utility Truck” and B2 pickup truck, as well as the B2 Chassis Cab version and commercial E-Chassis.
Bollinger Motors is one of several new electric truck startups looking to challenge Ford, General Motors, Dodge and Jeep by building more rugged, utilitarian and versatile battery-powered trucks that are more like the original Hummer H1. Bollinger’s fully-electric trucks are designed for both on and off-road.
The company was founded in 2015 by Robert Bollinger, who serves as the company’s CEO.
The utilitarian and fully-electric Bollinger Motors B1 SUV.
Bollinger’s patent-pending E-Chassis is the world’s first and only Class-3 electric truck platform. It was designed with commercial applications and versatility in mind. The company’s E-Chassis has been designed to offer a high level of utility for the commercial electric truck market.
Bolinger’s Class-3 trucks are designated as “medium trucks” and weigh between 10,001-14,000 lbs. Examples of Class-3 trucks are the Ford F-450 pickup and GMC Sierra 3500.
The Bollinger Motors E-Chassis includes a 120 kWh battery pack standard, although an optional 180 kWh battery pack will be available for more power and longer range. Like Bollinger’s fully-electric B1 SUV and B2 pickup, the platform features dual motors, all-wheel drive, all-terrain capabilities, as well as a 5,000 lb payload capacity.
The E-Chassis also features Portal gear lifts, which are normally found on rugged off-road vehicles or military vehicles.
The Portal gear hub is a set of gears mounted at the end of the axle that connects the axle to drive the wheel hub. It allows the axle to be placed higher in the chassis while the wheel hub can be mounted below the axle’s center line. The setup increases ground clearance as the axle can be positioned higher above the wheels.
Boosted by the success of Tesla, interest in fully-electric cars and trucks is growing.
New electric truck startup Rivian is backed by the Ford Motor Company and e-commerce giant Amazon. Another electric truck maker is Lordstown Motors, which moved into a shuttered General Motors factory in Lordstown Ohio and is converting the former GM plant to produce commercial electric trucks.
Finally there’s Nikola Motor, which is developing fuel cell and electric semi trucks, as well as the Nikola Badger electric pickup that will challenge Ford’s F-Series truck lineup and Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck.
The Bollinger Motors “Frunkgate” creates an open space from the front of the truck to the rear tailgate.
In June, Bollinger Motors announced it was granted a U.S. patentfor a radical new passthrough and “frunk” design. The front grill of the B1 SUV and B2 pickup opens like a conventional pickup truck’s tailgate. Bollinger calls it a “Frunkgate.”
The Frunkgate allows extra long cargo to be loaded through the front of both trucks. When both gates are open, the passthrough channel can fit cargo nearly 20 feet long, such as lumber, ladders or pipes. Bollinger said the B2 pickup passthrough can fit up to 40 pieces of 2×4 lumber.
“Our new patent is proof that Bollinger Motors is reinventing trucks from the ground up,” CEO Robert Bollinger said in June.
Customers can already reserve a Bollinger Motors B1 SUV or B2 pickup with a $1,000 deposit at www.bollingermotors.com.
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