Bollinger B4 Medium Duty Trucks Revealed: Fleet Customer and Upfitter Track Testing Will Start This Fall

(Images: Bollinger Motors)
  • Bollinger Motors shifted its focus toward commercial fleet vehicles after shelving its B1 SUV and B2 pickup truck development.
  • The B4 is a medium duty electric truck lineup consisting of Class 4 Chassis Cabs, with Class 5 and Class 6 trucks on the way.
  • Bollinger says track testing for the B4 will begin this fall, but the company did not specify a release date or pricing.

What’s going on with Bollinger Motors?

Earlier this year, we saw the electric vehicle company “indefinitely postpone” its B1 and B2 projects aimed at retail consumers. Bollinger Motors now has fleet customers in mind and is working to develop Class 3 through Class 6 commercial trucks to meet their needs. To that end, it revealed the B4 range of medium-duty fleet trucks Wednesday, sharing some more information about what’s in store.

One major point to note before getting into all that: There is no set release date, nor does the Bollinger B4 lineup have official pricing figures. That is all forthcoming, though the EV startup did not share details on a time frame beyond mentioning further announcements “at a later date”.

So, what do we have so far?

According to the company’s official statement, these Bollinger B4 Chassis Cabs are “designed from the ground up to offer maximum cargo volume, accommodate unlimited adaptation and prioritize safety.” There are few numbers available to contextualize that statement, but Bollinger did go into some detail on the electric drivetrain.

This medium-duty range uses an 800-volt electrical architecture, with the platform using a single electric motor on the rear axle. The company claims it made that decision to meet customer demand for higher payloads. Between the frame rails, the company fits one or two lithium-ion phosphate (LFP) battery packs, depending on the customer’s cost and range requirements.

Range estimates for the Bollinger B4 “exceed current customer need”, Bollinger says, with each pack offering roughly 100 miles of range. With two packs on board, then, you may be able to drive up to 200 miles, though that will likely vary by a wide margin based on how you upfit the truck for a specific application. The B4 also boasts a 41-foot turning circle, though that may also be affected by how it’s upfitted to meet a fleet’s needs.

Tax incentives could make the medium duty B4 a more reasonable proposition.

While we don’t know the exact pricing yet, the company’s statement did mention the newly revamped EV tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act. Section 45W of that legislation, starting in 2024, makes clean commercial vehicles eligible for a credit of up to 30% of the difference between the cost of that electric model and its gas-powered counterpart. Bollinger says that makes the B4 eligible for up to $40,000. If we use that figure to extrapolate the cost with the maximum available incentive, the Bollinger B4 could run about $135,000 or more. Keep in mind that is an extremely rough figure, so take it with a grain of salt.

After Bollinger Motors gathers feedback from the testing period, we should hear more on the B4 range in the coming months, or perhaps sometime in early to mid-2023.

Here is another all-electric big commercial truck.