Electric truck start-up Bollinger Motors has announced a move to a new and larger headquarters, and its plans include selling those battery-powered vehicles to Canadians.
The company has moved from Ferndale, Michigan to nearby Oak Park; both are part of the Detroit metropolitan area. The new facility is more than four times larger than the old one, and its team of 40 employees is expected to double by the end of 2020.
“It couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Robert Bollinger, the company’s CEO, in a statement. “We were bursting at the seams with new engineers, putting desks out in the shop at the old building. It was especially difficult to keep everyone more than six feet apart.”
According to Automotive News Canada, Bollinger will begin sales in the U.S. in 2021, and plans to start Canadian sales in 2022. Robert Bollinger told the publication he is close to making a deal with a third-party manufacturer to actually build the vehicles; and to securing a supplier for the batteries.
The company is working on prototypes of its B1 sport utility and B2 pickup truck, which is also planned as a chassis cab and as the Chass-E, a Class 3 skateboard chassis that could potentially underpin delivery vehicles, ambulances, or shuttle buses.
Both the B1 and B2 will retail for US$125,000, and Bollinger is currently taking refundable US$1,000 deposits. According to its website, the company will be “working with independent dealers throughout the world to offer sales and service,” although details are yet to come.
The trucks will have a minimum range of 200 miles (321 km). Charging is expected to take eight to ten hours on Level 2, and as little as 75 minutes on Level 3. The fast-charge power limit is a maximum of 100 kW, but the company said it is “working with our supplier to hopefully make that 150 kW by production.”
The trucks will have two motors, one for each axle, giving them full-time all-wheel-drive. The front and rear differentials can be locked, and the front and rear sway bars electronically disconnect. An adjustable suspension gives 254 millimetres of wheel travel, and self-levels when carrying a load. Payload is projected at 5,000 lbs (2,267 kg) and towing at 7,500 lbs (3,401 kg).
Unusually, the trucks will not have airbags. Bollinger said the trucks meet Class 3 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards with its seat belts, and is using simulation software to engineer the trucks beyond that requirement.