Bollinger Motors beats the odds with B4 commercial EV truck production

DETROIT — Against long odds, Bollinger Motors started production Sept. 16 as the first of its Class 4 electric chassis cab commercial trucks began the slow crawl down a long, curving assembly line at the Roush Flexible Assembly facility.

The first Bollinger B4s are expected to reach dealerships late next month and begin filling an order book that extends deep into 2025, Bollinger COO Bryan Chambers told Automotive News during a tour of Roush's contract assembly line in Livonia, Mich.

The plan is to start slowly, perhaps assembling one vehicle a day at first, and gradually increase the tempo. The factory has an annual capacity of 5,000 trucks per year. Bollinger's slow ramp-up, Chambers said, is to ensure defect-free trucks leave the assembly line. The B4 will also be subjected to extensive road testing before being shipped.

Bollinger has announced orders from large fleet customers for at least 240 B4s worth an estimated $35 million. In the Detroit area, LaFontaine Automotive Group will sell and service Bollinger vehicles.

Of the many of electric vehicle startups that have mushroomed in the last decade, Bollinger Motors — a transplant from Hobart, N.Y., with plans to build rugged, off-road SUVs — seems one of the least likely to have made it to production.

Company founder Robert Bollinger is an entrepreneur who made his fortune in personal care products. When he moved his EV company to Detroit in late 2018, Bollinger didn't know a thing about automotive supply chains; product development's long, slow slog; or how to deal with suppliers on small runs of bespoke parts. OTA, the three-letter abbreviation for over-the-air updates? Those were just letters to him.

Two years later, the company abandoned plans to build the boxy, brawny $125,000 B1 and B2 electric off-road utility vehicles and refunded millions in deposits. Instead, taking advantage of generous federal tax incentives that can whack tens of thousands of dollars off the price of large electric commercial trucks, Bollinger saw an opening. He pivoted to developing electric commercial Class 4 and Class 5 fleet chassis cab trucks, vehicles that are the backbone of local delivery services, freight haulers and agricultural companies.

Then came a majority sale to Mullen Automotive, a struggling California EV startup. Mullen wrote checks but let Bollinger's team continue work without interference on the B4 and a larger, more powerful B5, coming in 2025.

This year, with production imminent, Robert Bollinger stepped aside, selling a controlling stake to Mullen and turning over the CEO job to James Taylor, a former General Motors executive.

The B4 is a mostly made-in-Detroit product.

The truck is the first commercial application of lithium iron phosphate batteries from Our Next Energy, of Novi, Mich. Chambers said the decision on batteries was guided by safety. Lithium iron phosphate, he said, is less likely to overheat and catch fire.

Bollinger engineers designed the rugged steel frame, which has gentle bends that enable a turning radius of just 44 feet, common to much smaller commercial trucks. The engineers also designed the battery management system and wrote the vehicle software. Many other parts, such as fasteners, hubs, bearings and brakes, are sourced from Detroit-area suppliers. Dana Inc., based in neighboring Ohio, provides the 400-hp electric rear axle. But Bollinger buys the fully assembled cab from a Chinese manufacturer.

The B4, which starts at $158,758 excluding shipping, is eligible for federal incentives of up to $40,000. It can drive around 160 real-world miles between charges, Chambers said. And the truck can haul more than 3 tons of cargo.

Bollinger has scheduled a launch event for Sept. 20 at the Roush factory.

Robert Bollinger says he is not disappointed he didn't realize his original dream of building the B1 and B2 — which, Chambers says, could still see production if B4 and B5 trucks become profitable.

"Long before I made the official pivot to commercial, I told myself, 'Do whatever is necessary to keep this company alive, keep us employed and keep the team together,' " he said. "The decision to stop the B1 and pivot to commercial was not really a hard one. The overarching reason was, keep going, keep going, keep going. The commercial side was where the possible investment was going to come from.

"We had to put everyone on the commercial stuff. Really, it was the survival of the company."