Another Chinese battery electric truck has arrived in Australia to test the waters ahead of the truck possibly going on sale some time in the future ahead.
According to zero emission automotive website, The Driven, the Windrose battery electric prime mover is said to have completed a claimed an Australian record for a public fast charge of more than 500 kilowatt hours, recharging its batteries a s part of a test drive from Melbourne to Sydney this week following the recent All Energy show in Melbourne last week, where it was on display
Windrose says its battery electric truck features a 729 kWh battery, and the prime mover bears a striking resemblance to the sloping aero body seen on the US built a Tesla Semi, including a central driving position in the middle of the cab, which of course means it is neither left hand drive nor right hand drive. This may have been the reason Windrose has circumvented our local heavy vehicle rules. The company claims a range of more than 670 kms, fully loaded to 49 tonnes, and hopes to enter commercial production next year.
Windrose claims to have been granted a world-manufacturing ID by the Society of Automotive Engineers for its preliminary European manufacturing facility which it says has been recently announced at Zelec in, Belgium, which the company says marks its first official step in establishing a presence in the European market. The company has also established its European HQ in Belgium.
The company claims that it has already landed a 4×2 single rear-axle version of its battery electric truck to Europe for initial testing. It claims the truck has been engineered for efficiency and versatility, and that it has been designed to meet the “diverse needs of European transport operators”.
The company says it has commenced loaded testing of a 6×4 truck in Scandinavia , claiming it has been tested with a what it calls a “34-metre double-trailer road train”, carrying a total weight of 64 US tons, which is about 58 metric tonnes on a single charge journey of 580km, with claimed peak output of 1,040kW or 1,400 equivalent horsepower. The claims make for some eye watering reading and while they are just that just claims there must be some doubt cast over the truth. The weight, range and recharging times out do some of the most highly resourced automotive companies in the world, including Daimler, Volvo, Toyota, Triton (Scania/MAN/International, all of whom have taken a more conservative and more plausible path in announcing their range, weight and performance figures.
On a Linked In page Windrose’s Eric Gauthier, its head of operations for Europe and claimed automotive, automation, anergy solutions and wholesale expert, claimed the 729 kWh battery, which Windrose says makes the overall weight of the prime mover around 10.8 tonnes, while delivered a loaded range of between 670-940 km of loaded range, and that it withstands temperatures from -32°C to 70°C. Expert engineers tell us that while large scale EV batteries can with stand those temperature ranges, the extremities, both hot and cold severely reduce the performance of conventional batteries such as the Windrose uses.
Here in Australia the truck on show at the All Electric Expo in Melbourne , ahead of a planned road show tour of the Australian east coast, starting with a drive up the Hume, as it is set to be shopped around to Australian logistics operators,.
It is reported to have made the made the trip up the Hume Highway to Sydney for a series of demonstrations.
In photos that appeared on automotive website CarExplore today, its publisher Dylan Gow spotted and photographed the Windrose E1400 truck with out a trailer, at a location that looks like the service centre on the Hum e at Sutton Forest.
The photos of the truck show a NHVR national heavy vehicle registration plate, but a search of the NHVR data base showed no trace of the rego plate or the truck. This must mean the vehicle has been given some sort of dispensation fr testing and evaluation, but it does seem strange for it to have normal national heavy vehicle number plates
According to reports, again on Linked in Windrose has inked an arrangement with Mondo Australia, which is a a subsidiary of energy network company Ausnet. The agreement with Mondo is described as one that will see the operation develop charging station infrastructure in Australia.
The company describes itself as an ‘Australian businesses power our country’s future’ It goes on to say it ‘designs and build systems for efficiency, generation, metering and storage, incorporating solar, battery and other technologies.
Its website says its services “begin with leading utility metering solutions and progress to behind the meter energy systems and fully integrated private mini-grids”, and that these mini-grids, or virtual power plants, “connect multiple buildings or sites to monitor, capture, store and share energy right across your enterprise”.
In another LinkedIn post, Windrose’s head of strategic partnerships, Charles Yu said that the claimed record charging session of 501 kWh at an Evie Networks charging station at Sutton Forrest on the Hume, was “most likely” the record in Australia. Again unproven and extravagant claims
Photos on the Driven website, indicate that it took 150 minutes or 2.5 hours to supply to charge the truck’s batteries to 501kWhs or 97 per cent of its capacity.
As we reported in Truck and Bus News back in July, the Chinese based electric truck and technology start up, had stated strong ambitions to not only attack the massive US truck market with its battery electric prime movers, but that it also planned to manufacture its zero emission haulers in the USA, possibly to circumvent the threatened tariff walls, that Donald Trump will implement if he happens to win the US presidential elections next week
Windrose says it will offer its “729kwh battery, 670km full range (49-ton total weight) electric long-haul truck”, and that will start production in China in some time in the next two months (Q42024) in the US and while manufacturing in Europe is scheduled to start in 2025.
Two days ago Windrose Technology, announced plans to raise $US400 million through a New York IPO, which will double its initial goal.
The company claims this funding will fuel its entry into Europe with “new production facilities in France and Belgium and an expanded focus on R&D for zero-emission, autonomous trucks”.
To address local demand and enhance customer support, the company’s CEO, Wen Han said after recently opening a R&D hub in Belgium, the move highlights the importance of a European base as “more than just a response to tariffs; it’s a commitment to a localised service experience”.
Windrose, says that despite already securing 6,000 pre-orders, it aims to produce just 5,000 trucks by the end of 2025, paving the way for long-term competition in the European electric truck market alongside established players.. The World’s biggest truck maker Daimler has produced just over 600 trucks around the globe in the third quarter this year up from around 450 in the same quarter last year. It will be interesting to see if Windrose can meet its ambitious claims.
