Windrose, the Antwerp-based electric truck company, has built a 70 kW electric power take-off that is compact enough to be dismissed as a footnote. The company says the module is no larger than an iPad, but it could make the difference between an electric semi that only hauls freight and one that does real work when it reaches the job site. Integrated directly into the e-axle of the R700 electric semi, the ePTO is aimed squarely at fleets that operate hydraulic equipment—starting with car carriers, whose specialized trailers need power at every load and unload point.
Windrose’s New ePTO Is an iPad-Sized Electric Power Take-Off
Windrose developed the system in-house after failing to find a commercially available electric power take-off that met its needs. Founder and CEO Wen Han framed the decision in straightforward terms:
“We believe that EV (and all other) cars should be moved by an electric truck. However, we couldn’t find the right available EPTO solution to power the ramp and rack, so we decided to build our own,” Han said. “It’s the size of an iPad and directly integrated into our own designed e-axle. With zero emissions, it provides 70kW of power, based on our 800V high voltage platform.”
The headline numbers are 70 kW of auxiliary power, an 800V high-voltage platform, and a physical footprint that resembles a tablet rather than a truck-mounted drivetrain component. Those numbers matter because they address a hidden problem in truck electrification: the PTO. A truck is only as useful as the equipment it can power, and for decades that power has come from an idling diesel engine.
What Is a Power Take-Off, Anyway?
A power take-off, or PTO, is a mechanical power outlet that sends energy from a truck’s powertrain to an external piece of equipment. It is the reason a dump truck can raise its bed without a separate engine, why a utility truck can run a cherry picker, and why a car hauler can lift and lower hydraulic racks. On a conventional diesel truck, the PTO typically taps into the transmission or the engine and uses the running engine to provide the mechanical power. It is a proven, durable approach, but it also means the engine has to burn fuel even when the truck is parked.
An electric truck changes that equation. There is no combustion engine idling in the background to turn a hydraulic pump, so the energy has to come from the battery pack. In practice, that requires adding an electric motor and power electronics to turn battery power into mechanical power for pumps, winches, ramps, and other accessories.
What is an electric PTO on a semi truck?
An electric power take-off, or ePTO, is a system that draws energy from a truck’s high-voltage battery and uses an electric motor to run auxiliary equipment instead of a diesel engine. It delivers the same kind of mechanical power as a traditional PTO, but without combustion emissions and without prolonged engine idling. On an electric truck, the ePTO is the functional replacement for the engine-driven PTO found on diesel trucks.
Why an ePTO Is Harder to Build Than It Sounds
For truck makers whose electric models keep a conventional transmission, adding an ePTO can be relatively straightforward. Mack and Volvo have taken that approach with their electric semis, and the Volvo VNR Electric mates an electric drive motor to its existing I-Shift automated transmission. That preserves a familiar mechanical layout and makes it easier for fleet shops to understand the system.
But not every electric semi uses a transmission. Tesla’s Semi uses independent electric motors without a traditional gearbox, and Windrose’s R700 was designed around a proprietary e-axle. Without a transmission-mounted PTO, the truck has no obvious place to draw auxiliary mechanical power. That means the ePTO must be baked into the electric drivetrain itself, which is a more difficult engineering problem.
Windrose solved that problem by integrating the ePTO into a compact module inside its own designed e-axle. It is not an aftermarket box bolted on behind the cab. It is not a second electric motor hung on the chassis. It is part of the axle assembly, which is a cleaner packaging approach and a meaningful technical advantage in a market where floor space under a truck is always tight.
The Car Hauler Problem That Sparked Windrose’s ePTO
Windrose is initially targeting vehicle transport fleets, and for good reason. Car-carrying trailers are heavy, complex pieces of equipment. They use hydraulic ramps and powered racks to load vehicles securely and reposition them during transit. Every time a driver loads or unloads a car, the truck has to supply hydraulic power. On a diesel truck, that means sitting at the trailer with the engine running.
For an electric truck, the same operation has to run off the battery. But a car hauler needs more than just a brief burst of pressure; it needs sustained power throughout a loading cycle, and in a busy depot that cycle repeats dozens of times per day. The power demand is high enough that a generic auxiliary solution might not be enough, and a diesel engine is exactly what fleets are trying to eliminate.
Windrose says it could not find the right available ePTO to power the ramp and rack, so it designed its own. That is a telling admission. It suggests the market for electric truck auxiliary power is still young, and that the equipment used by vehicle transporters cannot simply be adapted with a stock electric motor. The company’s answer is a compact, high-output unit integrated into the R700’s own e-axle, and it is aimed at fleets that need to work all day without idling a diesel.
The 578-Mile Long-Haul Credibility Check
Windrose has been called many things since it entered the electric truck market, including a Tesla Semi knock-off and, more bluntly, a marketing stunt. But the R700 has also produced real-world results that are hard to ignore. In one high-profile demonstration, an R700 hauled a combined load of 75,000 lb. for more than 578 miles between Colton, California, and Buckeye, Arizona, across Interstate 10, the critical coast-to-coast freight corridor that runs from California to Florida.
That test established something important about the R700: it could handle a demanding long-haul route on a single charge. Now Windrose is using the ePTO to make a second argument. The same truck that can cover long distances can also operate as a working vehicle, supplying 70 kW of zero-emission power to hydraulic equipment. For fleets that had previously assumed electric trucks were only suitable for simple freight runs, that is a significant expansion of the use case.
Industry Reaction: A Swiss-Army-Knife for Electric Trucks
The early response from the freight industry suggests Windrose may have found a genuine market gap. Ken North, an emerging technologies consultant for the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, or NACFE, highlighted the ePTO as a step toward making highway trucks more versatile. “An EPTO has the potential to turn [an electric] highway truck into a Swiss-Army-Knife of application possibilities, especially here in Canada,” North wrote. “Nice work on this, Windrose!”
That comment matters because NACFE works directly with fleets to evaluate advanced truck technologies in real-world duty. North’s reference to Canada is also telling. In Canadian trucking, long distances and cold weather create demanding operating conditions, and vocational applications often need auxiliary power for heaters, lifts, and hydraulic tools. An ePTO that can handle those jobs without requiring an idling diesel engine is an attractive option in a market where downtime is expensive.
What the ePTO Means for the Broader Electric Truck Market
The ePTO is more than a feature for car haulers. It speaks to a fundamental truth about commercial trucks: they are mobile power sources, not just cargo movers. A truck that cannot run a hydraulic pump, a liftgate, a plow, or a crane is limited to the simplest freight operations. For electric trucks to reach broader adoption, they need to work with the enormous ecosystem of trailers and equipment that was designed around conventional mechanical PTOs.
Windrose’s approach addresses that challenge at the architecture level. By integrating the ePTO into the e-axle, the company makes auxiliary power a native capability of the vehicle rather than an awkward retrofit. The 800V platform supports the 70 kW output without excessive current draw or oversized cabling, and the compact size means the system does not take up valuable chassis space.
The solution also creates a strategic opening for Windrose. The company’s long-range demonstration answered one major question: can an electric semi make the haul? The ePTO answers another: can it do real work when it arrives? Put the two together, and the R700 becomes a more plausible replacement for a diesel truck in a wider range of fleet operations.
Why the ePTO Could Matter as Much as Range
For all the attention paid to battery size, charging speed, and kilowatt-hours per mile, the ability to power auxiliary equipment is often the quiet deciding factor for fleets. A utility company does not buy a truck just to drive between job sites; it buys a truck to run a cherry picker. A car carrier is not just a vehicle; it is a mobile loading platform. By delivering up to 70 kW of zero-emission power from a package the size of an iPad, Windrose has made a convincing case that its R700 can be more than a highway cruiser.
The coming months will show whether the ePTO proves itself in commercial service and whether other electric truck makers follow with similar integrated designs. If Windrose’s system holds up in real-world car hauler duty, the same principle could spread to concrete pumps, utility bucket trucks, refuse haulers, and any other application where hydraulic power is essential. That is how electric trucks stop being a specialty product and start becoming the obvious choice for the full range of work a truck has to do.
