Chinese electric truck claims record charge of 500 kWh in drive from Melbourne to Sydney

Oct 28, 2024

Newly emerging Chinese electric truck maker Windrose has claimed an Australian record for a public fast charge of more than 500 kilowatt hours as it topped up its massive batteries on its flagship heavy electric truck on a drive from Melbourne to Sydney.

The Windrose electric truck features a 729 kWh battery, and at a brief glance appears to be a Tesla Semi look-alike, with streamlined features and a driver’s seat placed in the middle of the cabin. The company claims a range of more than 670 kms, fully loaded to 49 tonnes, and hopes to enter commercial production next year.

The truck made an appearance at the All Energy show in Melbourne last week, before being taken around to show its wares to some major Australian logistics companies,. It then made the trip up the Hume Highway to Sydney on Sunday for another demonstration.

It has special dispensation to travel on Australian roads, and has also signed an agreement with Mondo, a subsidiary of network company Ausnet, to develop charging station infrastructure in Australia.

Charles Yu, the head of local strategic partnerships for Windrose, said in a LinkedIn post that the charging session of 501 kWh at an Evie Networks charging station at Sutton Forrest in NSW was likely the record in Australia.

That is certainly true, given given that no other electric vehicle has such a big battery (apart maybe from some of the big electric haul trucks – more than 250 tonnes – being trialled in the Pilbara iron ore mines). According to Yu, the previous record on an Evie Network charger was 220 kW.

A photo posted by Yu showed that it took 2.5 hours to charge the battery to 97 per cent completion, suggesting a reasonable charging rate of 100 kW. Some charging stations claim higher rates of charging, but often do not reach those figures because of network or battery limitations.

Wen Han, the founder and CEO of Windrose, posted last week that the truck has an 800V high-voltage dual-inlet charging platform capable of charging at mega-watt level, and has tested over 120 public chargers including CCS1 in the US, CCS2 in Europe, and MCS and GB/T in China.

Yu told The Driven that the truck did not need to charge, given it was not pulling a load, but did so to test out local charging compatibility. It also tested a Chargefox site. It hopes to finish homologation in the US, Europe and Australia by the end of next year.

Gavin Lewis, the head of New Energy Markets at Mondo, said in a statement last week the two companies will work on developing suitable charging stations.

“Australian commercial vehicle transport and logistics operators are mutual customers of Windrose and Mondo. We believe we will create real and sustainable value by working collaboratively together in engaging the market,” he said.

Yu says the company plans a number of long drives, including from Sydney to Brisbane next week, and a drive from Sydney to Canberra and back – with a full load – without needing to recharge to demonstrate its range capabilities. And he says, the truck will beat diesel trucks on total cost of ownership.

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of The Driven, and also edits and founded the Renew Economy and One Step Off The Grid web sites. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review, and owns a Tesla Model 3.