Bollinger Motors, a small EV startup from New York, has announced a follow-up to the eye-catching all-electric B1 SUV that debuted last year. The small company’s next electric vehicle is a pickup truck called the B2, which will offer about three extra feet of length for storing more stuff in the bed.
The B2 will be built on the same technological platform as the B1, which means it will feature the same promising specs Bollinger took aim at with last year’s B1. That means it will be powered by a 120kWh battery pack that can last for about 200 miles. Dual motors — one on each axle — combine for around 520 horsepower, and the truck can go from 0–60 mph in less than seven seconds. It will take 75 minutes for a full charge on a DC fast charger, or 10 hours on a Level 2 hookup.
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That should all be more than enough for the kind of use cases Bollinger Motors imagines for its customers. When the company announced the B1 last summer, it was up front about how this was not an EV for everyone. The same goes for the B2. These are vehicles that are designed to help people do heavy duty work, store and transport lots of material, and go off-road as well.
There aren’t a ton of fully electric trucks (or rugged EVs) on the immediate horizon in the auto industry, as automakers seem happier to integrate hybrid versions into their lineups first. Elon Musk has long teased the idea of a Tesla pickup, but the idea has never really come into focus at Tesla. So even though Bollinger is a small outfit, it’s one of just a few companies (like fellow EV startups Rivian and Workhorse) with plans to make an electric truck in the next few years.
There are only renderings of the B2 right now (Bollinger built actual working prototypes of the B1), but it will obviously feature the same rugged, riveted, all-metal design as its predecessor. The B1 is supposed to start around $60,000, and Bollinger says it has received 20,000 preorders so far. But the company is still lining up partners to get its first vehicle into production, and the company doesn’t have the same kind of high-profile financial backing that other EV startups boast, so it may be a while before the B2 (or even the B1) ever hits the road. For what it’s worth, Bollinger Motors says to expect production to begin in 2020.