Windrose Technology, an electric truck startup founded by a Chinese entrepreneur that became an international media sensation, is falling short of its lofty goals in the US, with former employees saying the company owes them hundreds of thousands of US dollars.

Wen Han, 36, a Chinese native with a Stanford business degree and experience at high-profile investment firms Bridgewater Associates and GSR Ventures, set up Windrose in 2022, aiming to upend the global trucking industry’s reliance on diesel and challenge Tesla’s electric Semi. Incorporated first in the Cayman Islands and then in Belgium, Windrose based its manufacturing operations in China, hoping to leverage the country’s advanced battery supply chain to sell long-haul trucks around the world. It also hatched plans to build factories in the US and other locations.

Han told Nikkei Asia this month that the company raised USD 100 million worth of equity investments before 2026 from Chinese backers including FountainVest Partners and state-backed Hefei Industry Investment Group, along with Australian property company Goodman Group and American asset manager Hite Hedge Asset Management. He said Windrose also secured USD 200 million in loans from Chinese banks and HSBC before this year. And in February, the company said it raised an additional USD 100 million in equity from China Mobile and French real-estate developer PRD.

Windrose’s determination to crack the US market, which imposes high barriers to keep out Chinese vehicle makers, generated media buzz. Profiles appeared in publications including The New York Times, Forbes, and Nikkei Asia, and the Time magazine named it one of the ten most influential transportation companies for 2026. Its truck was one of several vehicles shown to Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2024 during his tour of Anhui, where Windrose had operations.

In an interview with Nikkei Asia last year, Han said his company expected to finish refurbishing an old truck assembly plant in California by July 2025, and was planning a USD 100 million second factory in either the state of Georgia or Arizona that would be ready for production by June 2026. Neither facility has been developed, however.

Legal records and interviews with six former employees and several others engaged in business with Windrose raise questions about its ability to deliver on its US objectives.

Han hired more than a dozen American engineers, technicians, operation experts, and factory managers—mostly former employees of defunct electric truck company Nikola—to develop Windrose’s US operations and fulfill orders he said he had lined up. Most were in California while some worked remotely. By February, all but one had left the company or been laid off by text message or email, according to former Windrose employees.

Jason Gies, the former head of North American operations for Windrose, sued the company last October for USD 412,500 in unpaid severance after he was terminated by text, allegedly without cause. A federal court in the eastern district of Michigan ruled in Gies’ favor in January, after Windrose failed to respond to the lawsuit.

Han, who said it was a mistake to fire Gies over text, told Nikkei Asia he never personally received notices of the lawsuit. He said they were sent to the company’s office in Sunnyvale, California, which is shared with a boutique law firm and where he does not regularly check the mail.

Han said his attorney filed an appeal earlier this year. When informed that no such filing appeared in US court records, he referred Nikkei Asia to his lawyer, Elizabeth Favaro, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In March, the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity ordered Windrose to pay former director Kyle Maki more than USD 9,700 in back wages and interest after he filed a complaint to the state government. Han told Nikkei Asia that he repaid Maki.

Harold Keller, who was the senior tech resource manager at Windrose, told Nikkei Asia that he was owed USD 63,000 in wages and USD 4,000 in health insurance premiums he paid out of his own pocket.

He said Windrose repeatedly failed to pay his salary on time and provided him with a company credit card that did not work, forcing him to regularly cover business expenses himself. Despite such problems, he said, employees were “kind of writing it off” as issues typical of a “baby startup.”

Another former employee, Travis Waite, said he was owed around USD 29,500. He worked at the company for a year until Jan. 30, when he was terminated in an email seen by Nikkei Asia that said Windrose was “evolving our business model in the US.” Han confirmed that Waite was laid off over email.

Waite said his first paycheck from the company was late and the rest of his wages were paid inconsistently. On several occasions, Waite said he and his colleagues were wired “retention bonuses” that ranged between USD 1,000–5,000, before tax.

“The further we went into the year, the farther he was behind with pay,” Waite said, referring to Han’s handling of company finances in 2025.

Keller and Waite declined to comment on whether they planned to take any legal action.

Han acknowledged the company often paid late “because we sometimes couldn’t make it” and told Nikkei Asia that he sent retention bonuses totaling USD 30,000 to three employees, including Keller and Waite.

“We’ve weathered a lot of things … but many mistakes were made, especially on the hiring and firing side,” Han said. “There is no question that I hired and fired poorly. I would admit as much.”

At the same time, he accused former employees of taking advantage of a Chinese startup and said he detected “undertones” of racism. “There’s a degree of personal antagonism towards me, or towards people who look like me … that I’ve had to come to endure,” he said.

Former employees said they were disappointed with the allegations about racism and maintained that the US team worked professionally and collaboratively last year.

“The concerns raised by former employees, vendors and partners have never been about nationality, race, or the fact that Windrose is a Chinese startup,” Waite said. “They have been centered on business practices, unpaid compensation, outstanding obligations, and the treatment of people who contributed their time and expertise to the company.”

Keller stressed that employees “worked closely with the China team and had a good working relationship,” adding, “We tried to build team building and to make them feel special when they’re in town.”

Han said plans for the California assembly plant and a second manufacturing facility were delayed in the second half of 2025 by employment disputes. He said Windrose was in the process of selecting a new site in California for truck production.

Former staffers said the original California site was little more than a warehouse, too small for production, and that a dispute with the landlord forced the company out in June 2025, months after signing the lease. They said the disagreement stemmed from unpaid rent.

Han, however, blamed a consultant representing Windrose in negotiations, saying his conduct alarmed the landlord and led to the company forfeiting USD 200,000 in prepaid rent. The landlord declined to comment.

Currently, the company’s electric trucks are fully assembled in factories contracted by Windrose in the Chinese city of Suzhou, using components from suppliers including battery maker CALB, Zhenghe Motor, and Hande Axle, according to Han.

Han told Nikkei Asia in 2025 that he had secured 200 committed orders globally for made-in-China trucks, which he said were already authorized by governments to be on the roads in Asia, Europe, and North and South America. Han said the company has since delivered 20 trucks to customers.

Former employees said Windrose shipped just six trucks to the US from China during 2025, four of which were not road-certified. Customers were not allowed to test drive the trucks or haul freight, they said.

“We had to pull a trailer around with blocks in the back to show the weight, but a customer couldn’t drive it. It had to be a Windrose employee,” said a former worker, adding that this impacted potential sales.

Former senior employees told Nikkei Asia they pressed Han several times for financial documents so that they would be able to put together a business strategy and budget. “We were trying to get transparency to that, and the root cause of the problem, and adjust our plans,” one former employee said. Han refused each time, he said.

Han said he shared some financial statements with certain employees, but added, “It is not my duty to show every number that every employee wants at any point in time.”

Pursuing international growth, Windrose made Antwerp, Belgium, its global headquarters in 2024. It sponsored the local basketball team, now the Windrose Giants, and planned to build an assembly facility at the Port of Antwerp-Bruges.

Through a partnership announced last month, Han said the company was also prepared to do final assembly at Belgian logistics company Aertssen’s American factories in Tacoma, Washington, and Rincon, Georgia. Han said he did not know the capacity of the facilities. Aertssen did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In April, Windrose said it delivered its first electric truck to US customers, Texas-based logistics company Allogic and its charging partner Greenspace, through its official distributor and aftermarket partner, Xos. Xos did not respond to a request for comment.

Allogic and Greenspace told Nikkei Asia in June they were expecting a second Windrose truck in the coming months and had made no commitment to purchase more, as they looked to raise funds.

Han said his company aimed to ship 20 made-in-China trucks to the US in the third quarter of this year, despite steep tariff rates of at least 50%.

“Last year was like a great reset for what we do,” Han said. “Everything is happening this year.”

This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It has been republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.