Electric vehicle startup Bollinger Motors has announced a major addition to its coming lineup of boutique, capable battery-powered vehicles, although it's not one the average new car shopper will have much interest in.
The company announced today that its forthcoming B1 SUV and B2 pickup truck will be accompanied to market by a rugged chassis cab, available in both two- and four-door configurations, to meet the needs of commercial fleets. A chassis cab, as the name suggests, is a vehicle frame or platform with a full powertrain and front cabin section, with a bare platform section in back that can be outfitted with whatever the customer needs, whether that be a cargo box, flat bed, ambulance patient compartment - you name it.
The Bollinger B2CC chassis cab will be classified as a Class 3, with 5,000 pounds of payload capability and a variety of different available wheelbase lengths, depending upon the customer's needs. The powertrain should sound awfully familiar to anyone who's been following Bollinger up to this point: dual-motor AWD, a 120-kWh battery pack, and portal gear hubs for optimal ground clearance. Look out, Tesla Cybertruck.
But where the Bollinger B2CC chassis cab might really excel for the right commercial fleet customer isn't with its off-road capabilities or self-leveling hydro-pneumatic suspension. Rather, it's the combination of low operating costs - thanks to cheap electricity and a powertrain with relatively few moving parts - and the truck's innate ability to power a range of different tools out in the field.
The chassis cab's 5,000-pound payload and large energy source to power tools, facilitated by an onboard 10-kW inverter, "make it perfect for businesses, small and large," says company CEO Robert Bollinger. "The B2CC is an ideal option for municipalities, parks services, emergency response vehicles, airports, construction, landscaping, electricians, plumbers, security, non-tactical military, and more."
Even better, it's a truck "designed, engineered, and built in the USA," Bollinger says.
The new Bollinger B2CC will be available for commercial outfitters from late-2021, as a full cab or cutaway. The B1 and B2 passenger vehicles - which are also Class-3 EVs, by the way - are planned to start deliveries months sooner, in early-2021.