Windrose making waves with e-trucks

Chinese electric truck manufacturer Windrose Technology Inc is set to disrupt the global heavy truck sector, as the company plans to conduct road tests of its first electric heavy-duty trucks in the United States and Europe by the third quarter of next year.

Han Wen, founder and CEO of Windrose, told China Daily that the company is planning to conduct tests in prominent locations such as Los Angeles, Dunkirk, Antwerp and Rotterdam.

"We also plan to set up production capacity and receive local financial incentives in some of the above-mentioned places," Han said, without disclosing details.

The overseas momentum will help Windrose in its goal of delivering heavy-duty electric vehicles, with impressive ranges of 600 kilometers, by the fourth quarter of 2024, Han said.

Despite being a young startup founded in 2022, Windrose has already raised substantial funding through three rounds of fundraising, accumulating nearly $100 million. Notable investors include FountainVest Partners Co, Yunqi Partners and GSR Ventures Management Co.

Han, a Stanford MBA graduate with a background in heavy-duty truck-related ventures, has positioned the company to be "globally competitive" since its founding. He also formerly served as chief strategy and financial officer of leading autonomous trucking company Plus.

Such a global vision and rich industry know-how can also be seen from the company's cooperation with global sports goods retailer Decathlon and Hong Kong-based Kerry Logistics in carrying out road tests, including high-temperature and high-altitude testing, in China.

"Collaborating with multinational enterprises like Decathlon allows us to address the diverse application needs of heavy-duty truck customers across different regions. This positions us to use a singular truck model to meet the demand for intelligent and electric trucks globally," Han said.

"This is the first time that a Chinese truck brand, diesel or electric, will be entering the high-end segment of key global markets," he added.

Han said that Windrose has also joined hands with Germany-based global technology inspection company TUV SUD to ensure regulatory compliance for its electric trucks in overseas markets like the US, which he said will further step up the company's global layout.

Over the past few years, China has quickly emerged as a global leader in new energy vehicles and related industry chains. The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said that in the first 11 months of this year, deliveries of NEVs totaled 8.3 million units in China, up 36.7 percent year-on-year.

In terms of batteries, an important component of EVs, China has a manufacturing capacity of nearly 900 gigawatt-hours a year, accounting for 77 percent of the world's total production capacity last year. Six of the world's top 10 battery manufacturers are from China.

"There is no better place than China if we want to build EVs, with the largest shipments of smart devices in the world, its high-quality R&D talent pool, and most importantly, an EV supply chain that contributes to more than half of the world's total," Han said.

Highlighting the nation's hyper-competitive EV sector and well-rounded supply chain, Han believes that they will give the company an edge to compete in global markets, especially the US and Europe.

Andrew Huang, managing director of FountainVest Partners, said that Windrose has developed competitive new energy heavy-duty trucks in combination with software and hardware.

"The company has also obtained order intentions from overseas markets and gained some momentum in the international market," Huang said.