- The Bollinger B1 and B2 electric utility vehicles now have a price, $125,000, and the startup is taking $1000 reservation deposits starting today.
- The new truck and sport-utility vehicle go into production in 2020, with deliveries to take place starting in 2021.
- Bollinger says these vehicles are targeted at the kind of people who currently buy a top-end SUV or truck and then add lots of aftermarket modifications.
The 34,500 people who have raised their hand for a Bollinger all-electric vehicle now know just what it's going to cost them to complete the deal: $125,000.
That's the just-announced suggested retail price for both the B1 sport-utility vehicle and the B2 pickup truck, which the company says it will start building in 2020, in time for the first deliveries in 2021. Company founder Robert Bollinger told Car and Driver that the cost is in line with the vehicles' components and performance.
"Our trucks will have a larger battery pack than anything on the road today," he said. "Each truck has two motors, two transaxle gearboxes, and four gear-hub gearboxes. It'll be low-volume, and made from mostly U.S.-made materials. All of that together creates a powerful truck with unmatched capabilities, and it's expensive to make."
Bollinger also said the price was set high because the company isn't following the practices other automakers have adopted for making money.
"Rather than follow the common business model of borrowing money for years and years in order to cover the high cost of producing electric vehicles, we're pricing our vehicles to cover their material and production costs," he said. "As for covering all of the R&D and startup costs that have gone into it, we hope to turn a profit in the first few years. We have been honest and transparent during our entire journey, and this price reflects that."
Bollinger said that since the B1 and B2 share 90 percent of the same components, they are "virtually the same cost to make," and that's why both models are priced the same. Bollinger plans for the B1 and B2 to be low-volume EVs, which means building 1000 trucks in year one, and "to slowly ramp up from there," he said.
The target buyers for the B1 and B2 are the same off-road enthusiasts who are buying capable vehicles that are on the market today and then adding "$50,000 to $60,000 in aftermarket modifications," Bollinger said, so that they have the same performance as a Bollinger EV will have out of the gate. The headline numbers for the two vehicles are a 120.0-kWh battery pack that offers a 200-mile range, in-wheel portal gear hubs, a 5000-pound payload capacity, and 15 inches of ground clearance.
Bollinger will start taking $1000 refundable deposits for its vehicles today. The deposits will be fully refundable until the next step, Bollinger said, which is the actual pre-order process. The company has not yet announced when that will happen. Pricing for some of the options for Bollinger's vehicles, including all-glass roof panels and heated seats, will also be announced later.