EV maker Bollinger Motors is broke and truck production has stopped, founder says in suit

Bollinger Motors Inc., a prominent Oak Park-based electric truck maker, appears to be in dire financial straits, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the company by its founder.

Robert Bollinger, who started the electric vehicle outfit in 2015 and served as CEO until last year, alleges his former company owes him about $10.5 million and wants a receiver to be appointed to manage and distribute the firm's remaining assets to creditors.

The lawsuit says the company is insolvent, has paused production of its vehicles, and is facing increasing legal pressure from suppliers.

Bollinger Motors, whose majority owner is Mullen Automotive Inc., started making an electric chassis cab truck called the B4 last year, and a larger version, the B5, was scheduled for release in 2026. Bollinger had largely self-financed the firm in 2015, with the original idea of selling boxy off-roading EVs, before transitioning to the commercial vehicle space.

The dispute centers on a $10 million loan Robert Bollinger made to the company last October with an interest rate of 15% per year. By February, the company had missed a $125,000 payment, the court papers say, and while the company eventually paid up earlier this month, the former CEO alleges it was "insufficient to cure" the terms of his loan.

In addition, Robert Bollinger says his former company has defaulted on about $500,000 in American Express credit card debt — and unbeknownst to him, the credit cards "were somehow guaranteed by Robert Bollinger, event though he was no longer employed by or served as a director of Bollinger Motors." This led to Robert Bollinger's personal credit card transactions being rejected, the suit states.

Production of Bollinger Motors vehicles, contracted to Roush Enterprises, is stopped, and the company is facing other lawsuits from a supplier and two other vendors, the court papers say, adding that the company "likely will be facing a deluge" of additional collections lawsuits. The complaint adds that the company has more than 40 trucks for sale worth about $135,000, together valued at more than $5 million. It also owns other vehicle production assets.

The lawsuit says oversight from a receiver is needed to manage, protect and eventually liquidate the company's assets since it otherwise has no way of paying back Robert Bollinger or others.

“Bollinger Motors is working through the process of addressing the allegations in the pending lawsuit," Bryan Chambers, CEO of Bollinger Motors, said in a statement. "Our goal is to quickly arrive at an outcome or resolution of this dispute and continue supplying a product that we believe is best-in-class. We cannot comment specifically on the allegations in the pending litigation.”

Robert Bollinger departed his CEO and board positions last summer. James Taylor, a former General Motors Co. executive, took over the CEO post, though he recently departed and Chambers, who previously served as chief operating officer for the company, now leads the firm.

Bollinger Motors is far from the first EV startup to face financial challenges. Several companies that emerged in recent years from a surge of customer interest and government support for battery-powered vehicles have ultimately faced operational problems or shuttered, such as Fisker, Lordstown Motors, Arrival and Canoo.

lramseth@detroitnews.com

@lramseth