Much like rival EV manufacturer Rivian, Bollinger is making a smart play to win over the hearts and minds of electric vehicle customers, skipping the obligatory battery-powered sedan and going straight for two segments that are especially hot in the US: trucks and SUVs. After a long wait, the pure-electric Bollinger B1 SUV and Bollinger B2 pickup are finally nearly ready for production.
The company wants you to get hyped.
Bollinger has just put out a video showing its forthcoming B2 pickup being put through its paces off-road, which is where it's in its element. Just take a look as the blocky, handsome electric truck blasts sideways through the sand at Michigan's Silver Lake Sand Dunes, roughly four hours northwest of Detroit.
Indeed, the specs don't disappoint. The hand-built Bollinger B2 is touted to deliver up to 614 horsepower and 668 lb-ft of torque, with a dedicated low gear for hardcore overlanding. The suspension will offer as much as 10 inches of travel, and it will have an incredible 15 inches of ground clearance, thanks in large part to a compact electric powertrain and the implementation of portal axles.
But in addition to its obvious off-road acumen, the Bollinger B2 will offer plenty of utility on-road, as well, with a maximum payload rating of 5,000 pounds and up to 200 miles of driving range supplied by a 120-kWh battery pack. A bigger 180-kWh pack will also be available as an option.
Bollinger's B1 SUV and B2 pickup truck are planned to enter production later this year, with deliveries beginning in early-2021. If they sound like precisely your cup of tea, you might want to have a seat for this part: the company has been touting a starting MSRP of roughly $125,000 for the boutique electric vehicles. That's more than double what the Rivian R1T pickup truck is expected to command at the low end.
Even at that price, though, Bollinger might not have much difficulty selling out; the startup already counts tens of thousands of potential customers on its no-obligation waiting list. Apparently, boutique is in.