In what the company’s CEO is calling “a direct challenge” to the Tesla Semi, Chinese heavy truck producer Windrose has declared programmes to assemble a new assembly plant in the US in a tender to avoid heavy tolls on electric vehicles made in China.
Earlier this year, Windrose brought one of its all-electric Class 8 trucks to the ACT Expo in Las Vegas so that fleet buyers and journalists could see the truck up close. Although it was a preproduction model, Windrose impressed with what looked to be a sleek user interface, a well-finished interior, and sturdy construction.
The Windrose hopes to replace conventional side mirrors with externally mounted cameras that feed vertically oriented tablets, thus its sleek user interface is much more crucial than it may be in other HDEVs. These cameras will enable the Windrose BEV trucks to achieve a drag coefficient of 0.2755, which the company claims is the lowest of any heavy-duty truck currently on the market, if it receives DOT approval.
“The US market is cordial towards Chinese heavy electric trucks based on the certainty that the tolls on shipped trucks are much lower than those on cars,” says Windrose chief executive, Han Wen. “Many of our clients are US firms, for example, Nike … and we can provide them in their home market.”
With the help of Borg Warner’s most recent 960 kW fast chargers, the company’s trucks, which have a 729 kWh battery, can add 400 km (248 miles) of range in just over 30 minutes. Due to two liquid-cooled charging terminals with a maximum single-gun output of 600A, dual-gun single-vehicle high-power super-fast charging is made possible.
Of Windrose’s approximately 6,500 standing orders, “the majority” are from US corporations, according to Windrose. The company’s proposed US assembly factory in Georgia, which will assemble chassis and other car parts made in China, would ideally fulfill those orders. In order to avoid their tariffs on Chinese trucks, the company also intends to increase the size of its manufacturing operations within the EU. Another factory will be built in an as-yet-unnamed member state.
Windrose founder, chairman, and CEO speaks at a joint event with Decathlon in China: “It doesn’t seem to matter if we’re talking about the low-end or the high-end of the EV market, the Chinese are there with solid products that seem poised to seriously challenge Western automakers in their home markets. Whether or not the ridiculous central seating position works better in China than it’s bound to in the US, however, remains to be seen.”
