DETROIT — Robert Bollinger, the founder and one-time CEO of one of Michigan's best-known electric vehicle startups, is buying back major assets of his old company for a bargain price: just under $250,000.

It's the latest twist for a firm that just a few years ago sold a majority stake for $150 million during the height of the EV investment craze before running into financial trouble and shutting down late last year.

Bollinger's purchase includes the company's core intellectual property and prototypes of its original B1 and B2 electric off-roaders, one of its B4 commercial trucks that ultimately went into production, and various other office and shop equipment from Bollinger Motors' headquarters in Oak Park, according to a filing in Ohio's Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

"I'm relieved that this is back in my hands," Bollinger said in a Tuesday interview after the Ohio judge had formally signed off on the transaction.

Bollinger, 59, said he's still considering next steps now that he has effectively bought back the key parts of his old company that he'd originally founded about a decade ago in New York. He'd stepped away from the startup in 2024.

Bollinger Motors — which in recent years was owned by California EV firm Mullen Automotive — ran out of money late last year and was ordered into receivership by an Ohio judge as it faced multiple lawsuits from suppliers and dozens of complaints from unpaid employees.

Mullen, which later changed its name to Bollinger Innovations, had originally bought a controlling stake in the Michigan company for almost $150 million at the peak of the EV startup craze in 2022.

Now, for a fraction of that amount, Robert Bollinger will control much of the key IP and property of his former company under an LLC he started late last year, Robert Bollinger Design.

The vehicles, forklifts, computers, signage and shop equipment will be stored in an Oak Park facility he is leasing near the company's original headquarters on West 11 Mile as Bollinger, who now lives in the Pittsburgh area, figures out next steps.

"I'm just glad I could purchase the items that were very personal to me," especially the B1 SUV and B2 pickup prototypes, said Bollinger, adding he still believes there is an opening in the EV market for such a rugged off-roader. He said he doesn't have plans to pursue commercial truck manufacturing.

The boxy and utilitarian B1 and B2 proved too expensive to make originally, he said, which led the company to pivot to the B4, a commercial chassis cab truck that hit the market in 2024. It also developed plans for a larger commercial truck, the B5.

But like many other EV startups, Bollinger Motors struggled to get sales traction with the B4 — including after President Donald Trump took office and began stripping away financial supports for the industry. Parent Mullen Automotive faced many of its own financial woes, as well as mismanagement and fraud allegations, as it struggled to keep the lights on at its subsidiary and was ultimately delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange.

"It was 12 years of this journey, 12 years of incredibly hard work, a lot of tears, a lot of looking for money," Bollinger said. "I had 150 employees there at the end when we went into production."

Now, the industrial designer and entrepreneur who recently has served as innovator in residence at Carnegie Mellon University's design school, said he's looking forward to getting back to Detroit and figuring out what should come next.

Bollinger Motors faced a series of lawsuits from suppliers seeking compensation in the past year, including a $6.2 million suit filed in Ohio by Dana Inc. that ultimately led the Lucas County judge to order the firm into receivership — for the second time in a year. The process involves a third party that oversees the distressed business and sells its assets to pay back creditors.

Lawyers for the court-appointed receiver, Gene Kohut, wrote in a recent filing that there had been several interested parties in the company's assets, but Robert Bollinger had the "highest and best offer." He was also likely the only viable purchaser for much of the equipment and vehicles, considering "their highly specialized nature and limited scope."

In addition, there is "no established market" for many of the assets given they had never been sold to the public and had "no quantifiable market demand," the attorneys wrote.

One company that is owed money by Bollinger Motors, Aibond, objected to the sale to Robert Bollinger, saying in a letter to the judge that the purchase price of just $248,300 seemed low and noting that the value of just one B4 truck would exceed $125,000; the trucks originally had a list price above $150,000.

But the receiver disputed that estimate. Even the $22,000 price that Robert Bollinger will get the vehicle for "likely exceeds the fair market value of the B4 Truck," a filing said.

At a recent auction, the receiver noted, the average sale price for 18 of the electric B4 trucks was just $12,250. The receiver had separately tried to sell some of the company's other B4 trucks in inventory for $20,000 but "those offers were rejected," he said.

The receiver also brushed off an attempt by Bollinger Innovations, the parent company, to make a "credit bid" for Bollinger Motors' assets, saying it did not provide any evidence showing it had "a valid security interest" in the startup's assets. The judge, Joseph McNamara, agreed.

A statement that Robert Bollinger sent to The Detroit News noted that the transaction "returns ownership of the underlying work and ideas to their original creator." He added: “The B1 and B2 were revolutionary machines created by incredibly talented people. Preserving that work means everything to me — and I look forward to sharing what comes next.”

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