Bollinger Motors reveals the price of its hand-built EVs—$125,000

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  The Bollinger B1 electric SUV goes into production in 2020, and the 125kWh version will cost $125,000 before any tax credits or incentives. [credit: Bollinger ]

Boutique battery electric vehicle startup Bollinger Motors is getting closer to beginning production of its forthcoming SUV and pickup truck, and on Thursday morning it filled in a blank that many were waiting for—the price. We always knew that its BEVs wouldn’t be especially cheap; they’re to be hand-built in low volume and pack 125kWh of lithium-ion between the axles. Now we know how much: $125,000 for either the B1 SUV or B2 pickup.

While that’s a lot of money, it gets you a lot of BEV. There’s that 125kWh battery pack, although Bollinger isn’t quite ready to tell us more about its supplier or the pack design. The pack powers a pair of permanent magnet AC motors—one for each axle—each sending torque to the wheels via a two-speed transaxle (with a true neutral in case you need to tow it anywhere). Total power and torque output is a hefty 614hp (458kW) and 668lb-ft (905Nm), and the curb weight is surprisingly good at just 4,800lbs (2,177kg)—significantly lighter than either an Audi e-tron or Tesla Model X SUV.

It has yet to be tested by the EPA for range, but with barn-door aerodynamics, Bollinger says it should go at least 200 miles (321km) on a single charge. The company says that, connected to a 400V DC fast charger, a charge takes 75 minutes, although founder Robert Bollinger told me, “me are working with our battery supplier on that final capability—more on that later” when I asked whether the B1 and B2 would be able to use the new generation of more powerful DC fast chargers (currently up to 150kW for 400V BEV architectures). On a 220V (level 2) charger, a full battery will require being plugged in for 10 hours. As long as you don’t need all of your battery’s range to get home, there are 10 110V outlets (with the option of 220V), which means it should be pretty handy out in the field.