Bollinger Motors files for patent on “I-beam” battery pack design

Bollinger Motors has released details on its modular battery pack plans for its lineup of EV pickups, SUVs, cab chassis, and utility vans. It’s also applied for a patent on the design, which utilizes an I-beam structure to package the battery cells and their support systems in a metal exoskeleton. Bollinger doesn’t just intend for this battery pack to power its current projects; the company expects it to fulfill medium-duty applications in agricultural machines and other industrial vehicles.

The I-beam structure arranges the central nervous system of wiring and coolant plumbing to reach each of the outwardly-mounted battery cells, which flank the I-beam’s core conduit. The battery cells will be designed in 35-kWh units, and buyers will be able to spec additional cells to produce up to 175 kWh (in 35-kWh increments). Maximum output will be either 350 or 700V in most cell configurations. (Output and capacity are inversely related, and the physical arrangement of the cells control each figure. Since physical space is limited, Bollinger can only offer the 700V capacity in specific cell configurations.) Bollinger will also use an in-house battery management system (BMS) to watch over the pack’s individual cells, which have been designed to be modular so that future battery-pack chassis can developed with higher outputs and capacities.

Reducing the costs of battery tech will be vital as EV vehicles—particularly, those designed and manufactured by capital-burning start-up companies—seek to attract a large audience with low MSRP; these OEM must be able to offer an approachable sticker price while maintaining comfortable profit margins. By investing in an infrastructure with a broad range of applications, Bollinger is taking major steps in bringing its fleet of no-nonsense EV trucks into reality.