Windrose U.S. Assembly Plants to Be Operating by End of 2026

The R700 will see final technical assembly, battery integration and quality assurance checks at the two Aertssen facilities. (Windrose)

Windrose expects to start assembly of its R700 Class 8 battery-electric tractor at two sites in Rincon, Ga., and Tacoma, Wash., by the end of 2026, CEO Wen Han told Transport Topics.

The startup truck maker signed a partnership with Aertssen Logistics USA to assemble the tractors at the Belgian company’s equipment processing centers near the ports of Savannah and Tacoma.

Beginning assembly of the plants in the U.S. mirrors Windrose’s rollout of delivery of the central driving position tractor across the globe.

Previously, the truck maker publicly said it was planning to import fully assembled tractors from China, although this, too, was a pivot from 2025 expectations that the company would build or lease two of its own assembly plants in the U.S.

Serial production of the R700 for the U.S. market began in April at a manufacturing plant in Hubei Province, China, run by Zhenghe. The Windrose stamping die and welding line at the facility is capable of producing up to 5,000 cabs a year, according to the company.

The first U.S. deliveries of the truck maker’s Class 8 tractor began April 1, Han said in a LinkedIn post.

Now, the R700 will see final technical assembly, battery integration and quality assurance checks at the two Aertssen facilities.

Aertssen specializes in the technical assembly, transportation and management of heavy machinery. Parent company Aertssen Group operates EPCs globally.

The Rincon facility, which features 380,800 square feet of indoor storage and technical space situated on a 35-acre site, opened in August 2024. Aertssen expanded its U.S. operations to include the 250,000-square-foot Tacoma facility in 2025.

Windrose’s R700 tractor is available in two configurations in the U.S.: a short-range tractor with a 436-kilowatt hour battery pack capable of 200-250 miles, and a long-range semi with a 730-kWh battery pack capable of 400-450 miles.

An April 5 social media post revealed Windrose had committed orders for more than 100 trucks scheduled to be delivered before the end of September, about 20 from U.S. customers, Han told TT on April 7.

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Windrose had committed orders for more than 100 trucks scheduled to be delivered before the end of September, CEO Wen Han said in April (Wen Han via LinkedIn)

Alongside its Chinese production, the company is building a manufacturing plant in Valenciennes in northeastern France plus an assembly plant at the Port of Antwerp in Belgium.

Windrose’s short-range R700 configuration is available for around $270,000 while its long-range sibling costs $290,000, Xos Trucks CEO Dakota Semler told TT in March. Xos is the U.S. importer, dealer and aftermarket care provider for the R700.

An International Council on Clean Transportation report released in April on Class 8 battery-electric truck appetite in California indicates such pricing was competitive with existing options for fleets.

Windrose expects by 2030 to be producing battery-electric trucks with a range of more than 621 miles, about 1½ times the range of the company’s biggest current rig.

Generation 2 R700s are spec’d with a 670 km- or 416-mile range, but Generation 3 models will have a range of 805 km or 507 miles in 2028, and Generation 4 models will be capable of exceeding 1,000 km or 621 miles in 2030, Windrose said in an April 6 social media post.

The increase in range will be the result of the truck’s battery size jumping to 811 kWh for Generation 3 models and more than 960 kWh for Generation 4 models, the company added in a road map.