Bollinger Has Confirmed Its Intentions To Play As A Niche Player Here
Bollinger had recently revealed the B1 SUV and the B2 pickup truck. Being an EV startup, people started drawing comparisons with Tesla, Rivian, and the likes. However, Bollinger has taken a completely different approach for its products here. We will be talking about it in a bit, but let’s get to the new details for now. Bollinger has priced both the B1 and the B2 equally.
What The Boss Had To Say
Speaking with Car and Driver, Robert Bollinger, the company’s founder, said that “rather than follow the common business model of borrowing money for years and years in order to cover the high cost of producing electric vehicles, we’re pricing our vehicles to cover their material and production costs. As for covering all of the RD and startup costs that have gone into it, we hope to turn a profit in the first few years. We have been honest and transparent during our entire journey, and this price reflects that.”
Will It Find A Lot Of Buyers?
Although the initial impressions showed us the utility they offer, the Bollinger twins are not your conventional – or dare I say, stereotypical EVs. They are offered in the bare-bones avatar, with no electronic shenanigans whatsoever.
Mr. Bollinger further added that the reason for the high costs is that the company hopes to turn in profits within the first few years. Another factor playing here is the fact that Bollinger does not aim at selling the products in huge volumes right away. The company is planning to build just 1,000 examples every year, for now, and ramp up the productions after that.
The company says that its target audience is the same set of enthusiasts who are buying other mainstream SUVs and pickup trucks and spending $50,000-$60,000 on making them off-road capable. However, Bollinger says its trucks will be rolled out of the factory with similar performance to what those ‘modded’ SUVs and pickup trucks offer. Well, I don’t entirely agree because the Bollinger trucks are strong mechanically, but not in terms of features, accessories, and many other things.
There Is No Way You Can Hate These Vehicles For The Way They Look
Speaking of the Bollinger twins, they feature a straightforward design that is boxy and not one bit aerodynamic, and sans any tech features. However, the B2 truck focuses on utility and simplicity instead while the B1 is simply a boxy SUV. The vehicle is built entirely out of aluminum, thus making it light and easy to replace the body panels in the future.
The architecture has been developed in-house. Now, the Class 3 rating bypasses certain government regulations that require airbags and crash-testing. Unlike the two-door version of the earlier prototypes, Bollinger has launched full-size four-door models.
It Comes With A Tunnel Long Enough To Carry Your Wood
The best part about the Bollinger B2 pickup truck is its pass-through storage patent system. The mid-gate behind the rear seats can be flipped open and that creates a long tunnel-kind-of-a-space all the way to the front trunk, or how it’s called these days, the frunk. The seats are also removable. This is particularly helpful if you tend to carry long sheets of plywood or something similar often. One would naturally assume that an ‘electric’ pickup truck would have a high towing and payload capacity to boast of. We’ve heard Tesla claim a towing capacity of 300,000 on its pickup truck and Ford ‘showed’ us that the electric F-150 can tow up to 1.25 million pounds. Well, that’s not the case here.
If this did not break the deal for you, let’s talk about its range.
Bollinger, Try Using Duracell Batteries For Better Mile Range
The most disappointing thing about the Bollinger twins is the range they offer. It’s like the Mini Electric of the SUVs and pickup trucks.
In comparison, the Rivian R1T in its highest-spec 180-kWh battery pack offers over 400 miles of range. We hope Bollinger works around this and makes sure the problem doesn’t last for long. Wait, we want it to last long. The range, not the issue. Anyway, the battery on the Bollinger charges from zero to 100 percent in 75 minutes in case of fast charging, but it takes 10 hours if you’re using a Level 2 220-volt charging system. It goes unsaid that the Bollinger vehicles make use of regenerative braking. To aid cooling, Bollinger has opted to install a battery pack with liquid-cooled plates.
Those Are Some Strong Specs On Paper
The Bollinger B1 and B2 are powered by two motors, one on each axle, which generate 614 ponies and 668 pound-feet of twist. A two-speed Hi/Lo Range gearbox will be offered to make sure you have the right amount of torque at your disposal under any circumstance. This will help the truck sprint to 60 mph in 4.3 seconds and reach a top speed of 100 miles per hour.
Amongst other things, the Bollinger truck boasts front and rear locking differentials, front and rear disconnecting sway bars, geared axle hubs, and big, ventilated 11.75-inch disc brakes. The B2 also features self-leveling hydro-pneumatic suspensions with a travel range of 10 inches to allow the owners to drive it through the roughest of terrains with ease and to let them haul whatever equipment they’d like to. The suspension is set at 15 inches as default and can go either up or down by five inches.
Simple Interiors Will Please The Old-Schoolers
Inside the vehicles, all you can find relates to simple analog gauges on a flat dash and a basic steering wheel. The windows on all the four windows use manual sliding with latches. There is even a column shifter for you purists. Infotainment system? What’s that? Airbags? Unheard of, too.
According to the automaker, the Class 3 work truck rating awards the B2 pickup truck a 10,001-pound gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). It falls under this category because the truck bed measures over 49 inches in width and 69 inches in length.
Final Thoughts
Bollinger has started accepting fully-refundable deposits for the Bollinger B1 and B2. You can pay $1,000 to book any of the trucks and the company will return it all back until the pre-order process begins. The twins will also come with glass roof panels and heated seats as well, but the prices for these are still not out. Production of the trucks will begin next year, with deliveries expected to kick off in 2021. Given the way the industry and segment dynamics are changing, is Bollinger taking things a little too slow? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.