Bollinger Motors captured the attention of the automotive world after revealing its all-electric Bollinger B1 Sport Utility Truck (SUT) last year. The unveiling was a memorable capstone to company founder Robert Bollinger’s lifelong childhood dream of one day designing and creating a vehicle of his own.
As Bollinger Motors ramps up B1 production in earnest, the company has released a short movie delving into the design process and technology behind the first all-electric multi-purpose vehicle of its kind. The visual exploration prominently features the special team of engineers, designers, and technicians that Bollinger Motors assembled to pave the way for the B1 SUT.
“The B1 really came out of a sudden brainstorm to combine into one truck all the things I needed for use on my farm,” comments Bollinger Motors Founder Robert Bollinger. “Unfortunately, the light-duty truck hasn’t really evolved much in the last century; I found myself really wanting one all-purpose vehicle that could perform daily farm duties, remote construction projects, exploring off-road, and more. The underlying concept behind the B1 was make the truck incredibly capable and strong.”
Equipped with a degree in Industrial Design from Carnegie Mellon and following a distinguished career as an advertising executive, Robert Bollinger made the B1 a reality. The Bollinger B1 is all-electric, all-wheel drive with 50/50 weight distribution, 15 inches of ground clearance, and carrying capacity for as many as 72 sheets of ½-inch drywall or 24 long 2x4s thanks to the 12’ long distance inside between closed front and rear lift gates.
The 100% electric SUT will deliver a minimum 200-mile range and can also be used as a remote power source for electric tools and power for off-grid domiciles. The B1 is truly a multi-purpose utilitarian transportation solution.
The build video introduces the collective minds behind the EV truck. Each Bollinger Motors team member describes their contributions making the prototype truck. They also outline the process of creating a proof-of-concept prototype from CAD diagrams to actual CNC-produced parts. From a design perspective, the Bollinger B1 genesis artfully combines simple styling with high-precision execution. The trademark flat body panels and sharp angles of the vehicle echo vintage truck designs and can be easily reproduced and replaced.
The Bollinger Motors B1 features an all-aluminum chassis and body with a dual-motor electric powertrain married to a 120-kWh battery pack providing a minimum 200-mile range. The 5,000-pound truck has a payload capacity of 5,000 pounds, and an adjustable suspension can vary ground clearance from 10 to 20 inches.
Echoing the Bollinger design objective of distilling down everything that isn’t absolutely essential to the overall build, the video itself is rendered in black-and-white. The video documents the 20-month-long process of conceiving a new vehicle from an idea to creating a prototype to revealing that truck for the first time to the public.
[source: Bollinger Motors]
