Bollinger, the electric truck startup that isn’t bad, is getting closer and closer to becoming more than “isn’t bad,” in that it’s getting closer and closer to becoming more real. Its CEO said Friday that deliveries of its trucks would start next year.
Bollinger is planning the B1, which is the electric SUV you see above, in addition to the B2, which is an electric pickup truck, in addition to two chassis-cab vehicles, which customers can customize. These will all launch around the same time next year.
From Automotive News:
CEO Robert Bollinger says he has lined up “a number of” manufacturing partners to assemble the trucks and chassis-cab models his engineers have designed. Agreements with subassembly partners have been signed; a final assembly company will be named soon, the company said.
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Those chassis-cab vehicles will be offered to fleet customers who buy the fully engineered chassis and send them to up-fitters for installation of custom bodies.
This is a segment where Bollinger will have little and maybe no competition, at least initially. Its Class 3 electric chassis-cab models appear to be the only ones available.
During a filmed presentation shown at the NTEA Work Truck Show, held virtually this year, Robert Bollinger detailed the chassis-cab models that could be used to underpin ambulances, airport tugs, box trucks, dump trucks, defense vehicles and other types of work vehicles.
A picture of the chassis-cab model is below. It comes in basically any configuration you could want, with rear-wheel drive, dualie rear-wheel drive, and all-wheel drive versions. Bollinger says it can work as a tow truck, box delivery truck, bucket truck, military truck, or general-use government truck. Presumably, you can also buy it and affix nothing to the rear and simply run it as a naked truck.
Bollingers are not cheap, with this truck — called the B2 Chass-E Cab — going for $70,000, but Bollinger argues that over the life of the vehicle you will save about 17 percent in ownership costs, given that there are less maintenance and lower fuel costs. Which, you know, whether you buy that or not tends to depend on how you feel about electric vehicles in general.
Bollinger, which I hope can pull this off, is one of my favorite car startups not because it is trying to save the world but because it is trying to do the opposite, which is make some useful electric trucks, and only that, first. We’ll see if the 2022 timeline holds together but so far so good for this company, which has been making steady progress for years now.
That is all not to mention that the trucks look good.