> THE BOLLINGER MOTORS STORY
Bollinger Motors, an electric truck manufacturer, was originally founded in the Catskill Mountains of New York in 2015. After 2 years of development, the small team revealed their first working electric truck prototype in 2017. With a huge response to the all-original ground-up truck design, the electric vehicle company promptly moved to Detroit, Michigan to expand the engineering team and prepare a new design for production. Bollinger Motors is now based in Oak Park, Michigan where the team focuses on building the highest quality commercial electric trucks available.
> HOBART NEW YORK 2015 - 2017
“Trucks have had the same design flaws for a hundred years and someone needs to do something about it.”
–Robert Bollinger, 2015
This upstate New York cattle farmer made it happen.
In 2015, Robert Bollinger renovated an old 3-bay garage in Hobart, New York to be the first headquarters of Bollinger Motors.
Over the course of two months, the original Bollinger Motors team was formed. They spent hours sitting at computers formulating ideas and designing in CAD before anything was built. The team lived together in the ‘bunk house’ next door.
Back and forth for weeks from their beds to their computers.
They built life size mock-ups to help guide the design and maximize the use of space. (Paco approved.)
Eventually, the months of design work led to building the first B1 prototype chassis.
As the systems were completed in CAD, the components were sourced or built in the shop, then installed to the frame.
Motors are heavy. Dogs are important. Body panels are flat.
Then winter stopped so they rolled it outside for a minute.
Then they rolled it back inside, finished assembling it and took the whole thing apart again.
Paint and surgical reassembly came next.
And then one magical day…
July 2017. The All Electric, All Wheel Drive Bollinger B1 Sport Utility Truck was born.
The response at the NYC reveal was overwhelming. Over 3,000 orders were placed overnight.
Testing began right away.
That fall the team took the B1 to Colorado and Utah for some real off roading.
Testing was taken up several notches for durability, light-weighting, kinematics and compliance.
> FERNDALE MICHIGAN 2018 - 2019
In 2018 Bollinger Motors moved to Michigan in order to be closer to automotive suppliers, engineering and manufacturing partners.
The team grew and the engineers began prototyping the 4 door B1 and B2 pickup truck in the new Ferndale headquarters.
All hands on deck. Even the marketing department pitched in getting the prototypes built.
The Bollinger Motors team 2019 with the B1 4-door prototype just before tear-down for paint.
The B1 and B2 just after paint. (There may have been a handful of other steps before this. Ha.)
Robert detailing the first Bollinger electric skateboard prototype.
> OAK PARK MICHIGAN 2019 - NOW
Bigger Team. Bigger Plans. Bigger Digs.
Winter testing.
Gen 3 Bollinger B1 frame ready for assembly.
The team rolls a fully assembled gen 3 B1 chassis out. Robert stands with a gen 2 B1.
Bollinger portal gear hub and modular drivetrain cradle assembly.
Lowering roll cage mule body onto gen 3 B1.
Standard protocol parking lot rip test.
Bollinger Motors pivots to all-commercial electric trucks and builds the first class 5 platform prototypes.
2022 A.C.T. Show – Bollinger Motors reveals new commercial platforms.
The first cab-forward prototypes revealed shortly after.
2023 – the first customer and partner drives take place at M-City in Ann Arbor, Michigan
