Windrose posts 1,023 E700 semi CAD files free — SkimNews
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- Wen Han, founder and CEO of Windrose, published CAD models for all 1,023 parts of the X9D01 base model of the E700 Class 8 electric truck on the company's 3D Viewer, free of charge.
- The files ship as 3.54 GB of native PRT data preserving the feature tree — sketch constraints, driving and driven dimensions, parametric relations, and build order — which Windrose notes does not survive STEP or JT export.
- The release also bundles an assembly tree of 1,920 parent-child relationships across 97 assemblies and a manifest listing part names, systems, and per-vehicle quantities.
- Windrose explicitly allows service, repair, replacement parts, and modification with no fee, no permission, and no notification for owners and independent workshops; manufacturing vehicles from the designs still requires a direct agreement with the company.
- Han framed the move as the answer to the "year twelve" parts-supply question every new EV truck entrant faces, citing the collapses of Bollinger, LION Electric, and Nikola as cautionary examples.
- An ex-Ford engineer and two high-end tuners who reviewed the Windrose 3D Viewer models across two afternoons confirmed to the author that any competent fab shop could machine a mount, fold a bracket, or fabricate a panel from the data.
Why it matters: Fleet buyers evaluating the E700 get a concrete hedge against the four-year-old startup disappearing mid-truck-life: every proprietary component now has documented geometry any shop can reproduce, addressing the long-term parts-availability concern that has stalled EV semi adoption. By publishing native CAD rather than just static STEP files, Windrose also preserves design editability, giving independent shops the ability to remanufacture — not merely reprint — parts.
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