TFL Today: Bollinger Off-Road EV, New Audi TT RS 0-60, Next Ford Escape Spied, Porsche Diesel Banned

Bollinger B!
Bollinger B1 – Sport Utility EV 4×4 Truck.

The Electric 4×4 Has Arrived

Tesla maybe delivering its first Model 3‘s today, but last night in New York City something bigger rocked the EV world. Bollinger rolled out its B1, full-size off-road capable electric vehicle, and TFL’s Andre Smirnov was there. Click here for his full report. Among the highlights:

  • All aluminum chassis
  • Dual electric motors, one for the front axle, one for the rear
  • A whopping 15.5 inches of ground clearance
  • ~200 miles of range with the bigger 110 kWh lithium battery pack

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Audi’s new 400 HP 2018 TT RS 0-60 [Video]


Earlier this week TFL’s Roman Mica was at Lime Rock for the press launch of the Audi RS 3. Turns out it was a two-fer deal: Audi also introduced the new $65,000 2018 TT RS. Even better, they set up a special 0-60 course to let him clock its performance. Like the RS 3, the TT RS features the an all-new 2.5-liter, 5-cylinder turbo good for 400 horsepower and 354 lb-ft. of torque at 1,700-5,850. It’s paired to a 7-speed dual clutch transmission and, of course, Quattro all-wheel-drive. Check out the video for Roman’s Top 5 Surprises in the new TT. While he can’t tell you how quick it was in 0-60, he can *show* you. So grab a stopwatch and time it for yourself.

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Next Ford Escape Spied [Video]


Looks like this is Ford’s week for high-altitude testing here in the Colorado Rockies. Earlier TFL showed you a team of Mustangs caught on a high-mountain pass. Today, the Prototype Hunting team of Andre and Nathan spied a new Ford Escape prototype that was possibly undergoing testing for a wholly new power plant. Check out the video yourself and give us your thoughts.

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Porsche Diesel Banned! [News]

The VW emissions scandal has now ensnared Porsche. [photo: Porsche]
The self-inflicted hits keep on coming for the VW group which owns Porsche. In addition to governments around the world halting the sale of TDI diesel engines in VW and Audi vehicles, Germany (Yes, Germany!) put the hammer down on Porsche by issuing a stop sale order and recall of Cayenne and Macan S diesels, according to this report from Stuff out of New Zealand.

We’ll see how the dominoes fall around the world as more governments take a look at the Porsches to determine if they were faking emissions scores. And then I’m sure those governments will then extract even more billions of dollars from the car company. But the bigger question is what took so long to make the connection? The Cayenne’s and Macan S’s turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 diesel engines are from Audi and used across the Audi lineup as well as in Volkswagen’s Touareg 3.0 V6 TDI.