American electric vehicle manufacturer Bollinger Motors pulled the wraps off its newest creation: the B2 pickup truck. The B2 is basically the B1’s identical twin, but it features a truck bed rather than an SUV-style covered rear.
According to a statement released by the company, the images you see here of the B2 aren’t of a real prototype, but of a CAD rendering designed in-house. Just like the B1, the B2 utilizes two electric motors powered by a 120-kWh battery pack to haul future owners and all of their work or leisure equipment wherever they desire. In addition, the company’s electric all-wheel-drive system and hydropneumatic suspension will allow it to traverse rough terrain and even climb through large obstacles just like a “normal” off-road inspired crossover or SUV.
A Class 3 work truck rating awards the B2 a 10,001-pound gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) and a hauling capacity of 5, 000 pounds, according to Bollinger. And because this is, after all, a pickup truck, a truck bed that measures 49-inches wide and 69-inches long dominates the rear. Plus, it awards the B2 a seriously cool look, one that could soon be rivaled by a Jeep Wrangler pickup truck dubbed the Scrambler, or maybe even the 2020 Ford Bronco.
“The new B2 incorporates everything that we’ve learned in making the B1, and takes it in an exciting new direction,” said Bollinger Motors Founder Robert Bollinger. “It’s always been the plan to have both the B1 and B2 start off our line-up. Now that we have so much incredible data from testing our B1 prototype, we can put all of that engineering knowledge into our final four-door B1 and B2 vehicles. It’s the Pickup I always wanted and something crazy better than what’s available on the market today.”
With the internal cab tailgate down, the B2 can carry full 4×8 sheets of plywood. The rear glass also opens up like in the B1, which allows storage to the top of the cab and accommodates 72 sheets of 0.5-inch-thick plywood.
With Ford readying production of its first-ever plug-in hybrid F-150 and Jeep ramping up development of a hybrid engine for the Wrangler (that could be transplanted into the Scrambler), it appears that the pickup truck segment is about to be severely electrified.
Bollinger will release more details of the B2 in 2019.