News: Bollinger Motors B2 Pickup

The Strong, Silent Type

There are currently no electric pickup trucks on the market. Considering the number of gas-powered pickups sold each year, you’d think there’d be demand for at least one. Bollinger Motors, a startup that’s been developing it’s B1 Sport Utility Truck since 2014, now steps into the breach with the Bollinger B2 electric pickup truck, just as big and strong and silent as the B1.

The aluminum body is as angular and boxy as could be, with big Jeep Wrangler-like external hinges on all four doors and squared-off wheel wells. The only thing round besides the tires and wheels are the headlamps, although that could change in the final product.

Both vehicles employ dual motors that together generate 520 horsepower and 514 pound-feet of torque driving, in the pickup’s case, two-and-a-half tons of metal. All-wheel-drive is standard.

Powering the motors is a 120-kWh battery pack that gives the prototype pickup an estimated 200-mile range. Charging is through the usual J1772 Port for Level I and Level 2, and a CCS Port for fast charging. Bollinger claims 10 hours to charge at Level 2 and just 75 minutes at Level 3 DC fast-charging.

Mind-Boggling Numbers

The specs are mind-boggling–15 inches of ground clearance, 10 inches of wheel travel, 5,001 pounds of payload capacity and 7,500 pounds of towing ability. The truck sports a hydro-pneumatic suspension and in-wheel portal gear hubs, too. It should be able to go anywhere.

The pickup, with its internal cab tailgate, can accommodate a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood in its 4-foot-1 inch by 5-foot-9-inch bed. But if you fold up the rear glass, you can carry 72 sheets, presumably weighing less than the 5,001 pounds of payload. There’s even a 14-cubic-foot “frunk” up front.

The biggest difference between the B1 and B2 is in length. The B1 SUV is 171.5 inches long on a 118.8-inch wheelbase. The B2 Pickup stretches to 207.5 inches long on a 139-inch wheelbase! You’re not likely to find good parking spaces in the city with your B2, but on the open range it should put other trucks to shame.

Both the B1 and B2 are in prototype stage, but you can reserve one now—20,000 people already have. Production is expected to begin in 2020. See www.bollingermotors.com for details.