Talk about "white space." If you're looking for a pure electric
off-road-optimized Class 3 four-door pickup or SUV with a 5,000-pound
payload and 7,500-pound towing capacity, you'll have to wait until early
2021 for the Bollinger B1 SUV or B2 pickup. (Oh, and there's no relation to the snooty Champagne, so pronounce it BOWL-in-jer.)
What possessed Robert Bollinger, who studied
industrial design at Carnegie Melon University but ended up running and
selling a profitable organic hair-care products business, to start an
electric Class 3 truck company? He owned a farm in the Catskills region
of upstate New York and was unhappy with the truck options available to
him. Off-road capability was of high importance, as was heavy-duty
capability and silent green operation. Such a truck was unavailable, so
he looked into building one.
While most folks might struggle to fit 5,000
pounds of anything normal in a 6-foot pickup bed (72 sheets of ¾-inch
plywood would do it), clearing the 10,000-pound gross-vehicle-weight
rating hurdle for Class 3 greatly simplifies the task of designing and
developing a truck, as airbags and many other safety systems are not
required. Anti-lock brakes are required, and although stability control
is not, Bollinger is developing an ESC system. The company is also
conducting rigorous simulation testing of side-impact pole crash tests,
roof-crush tests, and others to ensure the trucks provide expected
levels of occupant safety.
Of course, energy
and budget saved on the airbag front might have been more than consumed
designing a suspension to handle Bollinger's off-road and load
requirements. A cross-linked hydropneumatic suspension shoulders the
load and provides ground clearance that can vary from 10 to 20 inches,
thanks in part to a portal-axle design similar to those used on the
Hummer H1 and G-Class 4x4-Squared, where the shafts delivering power are
located above each wheel's centerline, and they drive the wheels
through a gear reduction. Here, as in the Hummers, braking is via
inboard discs at all four corners.
This
suspension offers some unique benefits. By cross-linking the corners,
there is no need for an anti-roll bar, and with the flick of a switch
this hydraulic link can be disabled, providing the effect of a
disconnected anti-roll bar for maximum articulation of each wheel.
Another great feature: The self-leveling suspension also effectively
alters the spring and damping rates as the load increases, so Bollinger
claims that the ride frequency (and hence comfort) changes very little
from empty to fully loaded.
Power resides in a very large battery pack (74 x
59 x 8 inches and 120 kW-hr) that resides in a structural carbon-fiber
box under the floor. It then flows to front and rear motors that are
wound to Bollinger's unique specifications, allowing them to operate at
up to 12,000 rpm (about 2,000 more than most similar motors). A
two-speed gearbox is used to permit both precise torque delivery at low
(off-road) speeds and reasonable highway performance. Motor-control
electronics provide a virtual center differential lock. The motors each
produce 307 hp and 334 lb-ft of torque and are said to be capable of
accelerating the trucks to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds. Company simulations
suggest the big battery will last for 200 miles (on the EPA's test
cycle), or for about 10 hours of off-roading.
That's
pretty impressive range given the friction involved in those six
gearboxes, the big knobby tires, and the truck's, ahem, "aerodynamics."
(The drag coefficient reportedly matched a Wrangler's when tested in the
same FCA wind tunnel, but the frontal area is considerably larger.)
Like
the Hummer H1, the B1 and B2 offer just four bucket seats, but here
they're separated by a load floor that's even with the rear cargo floor.
In the case of the B2 pickup, there is a Chevy
Avalanche-esque "midgate" that folds flat into the rear load floor, and
the back glass can either flip up or be removed. Removing the rear
buckets is a simple matter of unlatching and lifting them out to provide
a 9.5-foot bed. Another party trick both models offer: The frunk is
accessible by a front "tailgate," which also folds down flush with the
continuous load floor that runs from tailgate to tailgate. You could
transport telephone poles horizontally in a B2 if the terrain and road
conditions permitted.
Other cool features
include four roof panels that pop up to vent or come out for open-air
motoring. These are available in glass or aluminum. The side windows
open by sliding sideways, but they also come out for a fully open-air
feeling. And the doors can be removed. Removable "consoles" can be
snapped into holes in the floor between the front and rear seats, but
these are primarily tablelike armrests that preserve the aforementioned
telephone-pole pass-thru. There will be no fifth or sixth optional seats
clipping into those console mounts, as there's not enough headroom. Air
conditioning flows up into a cross-car vent system located just under
the windshield. The three individual vents can be rotated toward the
windshield for defrost, toward the occupants' faces, or rolled to a
closed position.
The interior is designed to
be hosed out, and the exterior is (industrially) designed first and
foremost for ease of manufacture. All the exterior sheetmetal can be cut
and bent without stamping dies, and most are bonded and riveted using
exposed rivets to enhance the industrial look. A few underbody panels
might require stamping. The front corners will be cast. The structure
and the body are made of aluminum, but the independent suspension
members are mostly steel.
Bollinger has
brought the design to the "beta" prototype stage as shown using its own
money. Between now and the proposed start of production in late 2020
(with deliveries in early 2021), the company must secure additional
funding and a third-party manufacturing partner. Production estimates
are pegged at 1,000 for the first year, with a mix tilted toward the
SUV. Commercial and (non-tactical) military sales are expected. So far,
all lips are sealed as to pricing—our $100K to $120K estimate is
entirely a guess, and the value proposition that represents will be
entirely up to the buyer. You get a lot of power, a lot of battery, a
15-kW inverter to run 110-volt accessories from the eight available
plugs, and the rugged no-nonsense look of a press-break-built DIY Land Rover Defender. If you're in the market for an electric Class 3 truck, it might be quite a wait for your next option.
