Over a year and a half after initially announcing a pivoting of its EV business strategy into commercial vehicles, Bollinger Motors has begun pilot production of its B4 chassis cab vehicles. We have our first glimpse at the “design validation” builds below, which will soon see public demonstrations and testing before reaching fleet customers.
Bollinger Motors is an American EV startup founded in New York City in 2014 before moving to Michigan in 2018 after the debut of its flagship model, the B1 SUV. That EV was soon joined by a pickup version called the B2, which reached the production-intent design phase in late 2020.
In January of 2022, however, Bollinger Motors announced it was pivoting its entire business strategy, abandoning the B1 and B2 passenger EVs to develop commercial trucks for fleets instead. By April, the company announced Con Edison as its first potential commercial EV customer, designing Class 3 walk-in vans as part of a pilot program.
Since then, Bollinger has continued to develop Class 3-6 commercial EVs upon its own proprietary chassis, including the B4 cab seen below. Last September, fellow EV startup Mullen Automotive ($MULN) announced it had acquired a majority stake in Bollinger Motors, supporting the company in its quest to delivers the B4 chassis cab, while simultaneously vowing to revive its shelved B1 and B2 passenger EV development.
After more than eight years, Bollinger Motors is starting to build EVs in Michigan with financial support from Mullen and manufacturing support from Roush Industries.
-
The B4 validation prototype / Credit: Bollinger Motors -
Bollinger B4 pilot builds kick off quest for 2024 deliveries
Bollinger Motors shared its latest progress update regarding the B4 chassis cab today, which has now entered a “design validation” build phase to support EV testing and customer demonstrations. The initial rollout will begin with five fully-assembled chassis cabs this summer, followed by another 15 or so more in Q3 of this year.
Bollinger’s B4 chassis cabs are being assembled in Livonia, Michigan through a partnership with Roush Industries – a prototyping, engineering, and manufacturing specialist with ties to automotive, aerospace, defense, and motorsport. Bollinger CEO Robert Bollinger spoke to the pilot builds:
Bollinger Motors has over eight years of experience in developing, producing, and testing all-electric trucks. I’m excited to see our hard work come together in the B4 and to keep hitting our milestones.
Following the completed validation builds, Bollinger says it is planning demonstrations with the B4 chassis cabs in September at the Mcity testing facility at the University of Michigan. The startup says it is already speaking with multiple upfitters to present the Class 4 EVs with a variety of “top hat” options for potential partners and fleet customers to visualize. Bollinger’s chief revenue officer Jim Connelly said an announcement regarding the company’s nationwide service network will follow soon.
We’re not sure about price yet, but Bollinger has shared that the B4 should be eligible for a nationwide purchase incentive in the US for 30% of the EV’s cost – up to $40,000. If that’s the case, quick math tells us the B4 should be priced around $130,000.
Customer deliveries are expected to begin a year from now in July 2024. In the meantime, check out the the B4 Pilot builds in Michigan just posted by Bollinger: