EV startup Bollinger delays rugged electric trucks ‘indefinitely’ to focus on delivery vans

Bollinger, a Michigan-based startup, today announced that it is postponing plans to manufacture electric trucks in order to focus on commercial delivery vans.

Bollinger burst onto the scene several years ago with a pair of rugged box-shaped electric truck prototypes: the four-door B1 (which is shaped like a Jeep Wrangler) and the B2 (which is longer and has a pickup bed). It’s the latest electric vehicle startup to encounter speed bumps as it tries to build a complicated vehicle manufacturing business from the ground up.

Bollinger has already delayed both vehicles, so their postponement may not come as a huge shock to close watchers. The trucks were originally scheduled to go into production in 2020, but that date has been pushed back to late 2021, with hopes of making several thousand by early 2022.

Now the vehicles will be “postponed indefinitely” as the company focuses on an electric delivery van, Bollinger CEO Robert Bollinger said in a statement. The company will refund the deposits of customers who have already deposited money to reserve the B1 and B2 trucks.

“B1 and B2 are postponed indefinitely, in order to focus on business development,” he said. “As these trucks are close to my heart, I would never say never. If our continuous development in the commercial field allowed us to return one day, there would be no one happier than me. But there is no timetable for this.

The Deliver-E electric van, which was announced in 2020, is expected to be built on a variable vehicle platform that allows for multiple battery sizes, such as 70 kWh, 105 kWh, 140 kWh, 175 kWh and 210 kWh. This means customers will have a variety of options in lineup, price and wheelbase sizes to choose from. The front-wheel-drive platform will be designed to fit classes 2B, 3, 4 and 5.

Bollinger declined to affirm a start date for production of the pickup truck, noting that the company is still looking for a manufacturing partner. “The Deliver-E van was our interpretation of the type of body that could be fitted to our electric platforms,” he said. “We never intended to build this body ourselves, but are now in talks with retrofit partners who make truck and van bodies.”

If it does eventually go from concept to production, the Deliver-E will have plenty of competition. General Motors already ships electric pickup trucks under its BrightDrop brand to customers like FedEx and Walmart. Mercedes-Benz has several models on the road, and Ford plans to start production this year on its electrified E-Transit van.

Amazon, which has a fleet of tens of thousands of combustion-engine vans making up its mass delivery operation, has ordered 100,000 electric vans from electric vehicle startup Rivian (in which it is also heavily investing) and plans also to buy electric vehicles from Stellantis. .