Is Chinese EV truck builder Windrose Tech coming to Antwerp?

Windrose Tech, the Chinese manufacturer of EV trucks, is considering coming to Antwerp to install its European headquarters, an R&D center, and an assembly plant. That’s what founder Han Wen declared in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.

Windrose’s full electric trucks are supposed to have a range of some 600 km and to be noticeably cheaper than trucks from Tesla or Daimler. Currently, the company is testing its new products in France (in cooperation with Decathlon) and the Netherlands.

Antwerp

Windrose aims to become a player in the transport market in China, Europe, and the United States. According to founder and CEO Han Wen (on his LinkedIn account), he visited the mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, a few weeks ago to tell him about his plans to establish his European headquarters in the Belgian port.

Han Wen is talking about a 1 to 2 billion euro investment that could still be implemented this year if the ongoing talks are concluded positively. Neither Bart De Wever nor the CEO of VOKA Antwerp Luc Luwel (VOKA is the network of Flemish enterprises), who was also present at the meeting in the Antwerp city hall, wanted to comment on the event at the moment.

Port of Antwerp-Bruges confirms that Windrose is interested in an Antwerp-based HQ and finds it an interesting project, but it doesn’t want to give further comments as long as talks are ongoing.

Windrose Tech

Chinese entrepreneur Wen Han (33) founded Windrose Tech in 2022, and it has its first factory near Shanghai, China. The Windrose electric truck is still in its testing phase but received a Chinese homologation at the end of last year. The first trucks are supposed to be delivered in China at the end of the year.

The company is testing its new truck in Europe in cooperation with Decathlon. Design-wise, the truck is similar to the Tesla Semi and would be offered at a price tag of around $250,000, which is lower than what Tesla will be asking and only half of what Daimler is asking for its EV trucks.

How the announced investments (€300 million initially, one to two billion euros in the long run) will be financed is still somewhat vague. Recently, $70 million was assembled from the HSBC bank group and a few Chinese funds.

The company plans to go public in the States and Europe in 2024. Two Belgian public investment companies (PMV and SFPIM) are rumored to be involved in the negotiations.