The Chinese Electric Vehicle Founder Who Wants In on Trump’s America

The question asked to Wen Han, founder of the Wintrosa Technology electrical truck manufacturer, was simple: is it accurate to call the company a Chinese company?

After a bit of ruddish, Mr. Han decided to answer: “I would describe him as a Chinese origin”.

There is a reason why it seemed a question of makeup: Windrose investors include an Australian real estate group, financiers of US risk capital and Chinese state -owned funds. It is now based in Belgium. But in his heart, Windrose packs significant advantages of China in producing electric vehicles.

Mr. Han wants to use that advantage to sell long -range trucks on a global level. He intends to bring his public company to New York, saying that he intends to present the initial documents within the following month to collect up to at least $ 400 million.

While the company proposal is simple, the execution is far from complicated by geopolitics, commercial tensions and an increase in protectionism. Mr. Han is aware of what he calls Windrose’s “Chineseness”.

Born in the country of Chinese coal, Mr. Han, 34, grew when Chinese globalization has not triggered the type of political distrust in the United States that does it now. He attended Williams College in Massachusetts and worked at the American Hedge Fund Bridgewater Associates. His life has gone through both countries. Now, he is pushing for Windrose to do the same in a world of fracture.

“China will never be the best American friend, not in our life,” he said. “However, China must not be the enemy forever and not everyone from China must be the enemy.”

Windrose is trying to overturn the dependence of the centuries -old of the self -transport sector on diesel. It is based on the chain of supply and components of batteries and members of China, a by -product of the Government of Beijing government.

In addition to an office in Antwerp, Windrose is building a production plant in the north of France. He has sites in Georgia and California to manage the light assembly of trucks mostly buildings in China. Now he is choosing between Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio to open a factory in 2027.

He is tightening more early on ambition than a proven experience. He only produced about 40 trucks, a lot from his goal of building 10,000 in 2027. Taken regulatory obstacles. Customers in America and Europe cannot yet buy its vehicles, which are waiting to be certified.

In three years, Windrose has collected over $ 300 million. While other novice truck manufacturers have struggled to make work and work winrrose, Windrose surprised many in the sector with its speed in the design, development and production of trucks. Mr. Han’s vehicles have been tested on long routes in the United States, Europe, China and Australia.

“I always tell him that he is too aggressive, but he continues to deliver, so now I have nothing to say”, Allen Zhu, CEO of GSR Ventures, a company of risk capital of Silicon Valley and a winrrose investor.

But, of course, Windrose is facing hostile, if not completely hostile conditions, to Chinese start-ups.

President Trump has imposed growing rates on Chinese imports. In February, he ordered restrictions on Chinese investments in strategic sectors and tried to limit the way Chinese companies list their actions in the US bags. As part of the decree, the White House specifically identified China as a “foreign opponent”.

And then there is Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has Mr. Trump’s ear. Tesla is one of Windrose’s main competitors with the capital, the know-how and the brand to challenge existing truck producers.

Regardless of the fact that Mr. Han or not in his American effort, his history speaks of the inexorable economic impulses that connect China and the United States despite the political forces that divide countries.

Mr. Han, the only son of two doctors, competed in English -speaking national competitions as a student. He noticed that many best participants had lived abroad.

“So I told my mother,” he said, that “I would also like to get such an unfair advantage.”

At 16, he left China to attend high school near San Diego. After the college, he worked in Bridgewater. He worked in risk capital after the Stanford Business School. Han joined Plus, a Silicon Valley start-up for autonomous truck trucks with operations in China and the United States, and in the end he became his main strategy and the financial official.

He discovered the dangers of being trapped between Washington and Beijing. Han said he had headed to a pay day of $ 20 million from the initial public offer of Plus to China’s repression on the company Didi Chuxing Put a freezing on the quotation plans of his company. In addition, in the end he divided his Chinese operation from the rest of his global portfolio.

“I learned to manage geopolitical sensitivity,” said Han.

He started Windrose in 2022. At the time, investors were wary of electric vehicle companies after some high -profile failures. The battery prices had increased from the lack of lithium carbonate, accumulating further pressure on profitability.

Mr. Han took a contrarian vision. The stigma of the sector meant that there were less new competitors. He thought that lithium prices had reached the peak. He was right on both, but above all, he knew that the Chinese supply chain for electric vehicles was much later than in the rest of the world.

Windrose did not invent something new. Tesla and Nikola had announced plans for electric truck years earlier, but both companies were creating supply chains in the United States, not in China. Nikola declared bankruptcy in February. Tesla He is running years behind the production objectives for his truck, the seed.

Mr. Han faced some resistance when he raised funds in the United States. Whatever Chinese is considered “taboo”, he said. Someone suggested that it was American Chinese, not Chinese.

He even followed him in Europe. After Windrose changed his incorporation from the Cayman Islands in Belgium, he paid to change the name of the local professional basketball team with the Windrose Antwerp giants. A local newspaper has conquered a title: “Should we be wary of Chinese espionage?”

“They never move away from Chineseness,” said Han, owner of a part of the team. “Furthermore, they never move away from the problems that derive from the Chineseness.”

He said he wanted Windrose to be considered a global company, not a Chinese state champion. Try to keep the distances from the Communist Party.

As a question about a video of Xi Jinping news, the main leader of China, inspecting one of the Windrose trucks last year, Mr. Han stressed that it was not a party pedestrian.

“I don’t go around and criticize President XI,” he said. “This does not mean that I am the proud son of President Xi. We do not want to become the next state pride of China.”

Han said he rejected the suggestions from officials to collaborate with certain Chinese companies or pursue different technologies.

“I tell them,” let me do my job, “he said.” They say to me, “You have to start being more respectful.” “

His wife, Jessie Jia, a fitness influencer with 2.9 million followers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, said she was worried that Mr. Han would have told something that could make him in hot water.

“I was worried about this, but I can’t control him,” said Mrs. Jia.

Windrose took money from two investment funds supported by the state and the monetary authority of Hong Kong. If he hadn’t taken the investment, he would have had another competitor, Han said. None of the entities supported by the State has seats of the Council or influence with the company, he said.

The markets are never far from Mr. Han’s mind. In December, during a meeting with Benoît Van Den Hove, CEO of Euronext Brussels taken, Mr. Han was already planning a secondary list in Europe after becoming public in America. He wanted Windrose to be part of the handsome 20, the reference index of the Belgium of the 20 most precious companies in the country.

Van den Hove explained that if the trucks were not certified on the road before the list, the front of the Windrose investment prospectus would be with a warning label on potential risk.

Mr. Han was not surprised. He said that his trucks were already certified in China and that he expected Windrose to be approved in the United States in April and in Europe by the end of the year.

China is adopting electric trucks more quickly because the vehicles are cheaper and the charging infrastructure is better. Windrose is selling its electric trucks for $ 250,000, which is cheaper than EV options from traditional brands but still a significant prize compared to diesel.

Windrose is anxious to bring trucks to customers before Tesla, which demonstrated for the first time his semi -semi -prototype in 2017. Tesla declared last year that he aimed to achieve mass production – an annual capacity of 50,000 trucks – in his structure in Nevada by the end of 2026. Tesla, who did not respond to a commentary request, initially started starting deliveries in 2019.

Mr. Han talks about Mr. Musk with reverence. He said Mr. Musk had done more for relationships with China than most diplomats and that Windrose had benefited from the Chinese supply chain that got up to support Tesla.

However, he said that the construction of electric trucks was not a priority for Mr. Musk. He began to appoint his various roles.

“Oh, yes,” he said. “And be Donald Trump’s best friend.”

Mr. Han is no less desperate for the President’s attention. He has already decided to build a factory in a “very red” state, but he he sent a direct appeal to Mr. Trump last month on Truth Social.

“Mr. President,” Han wrote. “We heard you and we would like to announce our plans to build the first Windrose EV Truck production plant in the United States! Please help us find the right community to invest in!”

Mr. Han had no response.