The Chinese startup Zeron, which specialises in electric heavy goods vehicles, has completed its Series A financing round of 500 million yuan (60 million euros). The investors include Momenta, a Chinese specialist in AI-supported autonomous driving technologies.
Zeron was founded in April 2022 by former executives from TuSimple and Sany Truck and has delivered almost 700 units of its two models, Jingzhe and Xiaoman, to date. TuSimple specialises in autonomous trucks, while Sany Truck is a major manufacturer of construction machinery and heavy trucks.
With around 200 employees, Zeron specialises in developing intelligent technologies for electric heavy-duty trucks. This ranges from the powertrain, thermal management and E/E architecture to connectivity and AI. The first two models, the Jingzhe and Xiaoman, were finally launched on the market in 2024. The Xiaoman has a 350 kWh LFP battery (charging time 20-80 per cent <50 min) and a drive with a total peak output of 480 kW. The Jingzhe has 385 kWh, which can even be charged in under 35 minutes (with two charging points simultaneously), with a peak output of 630 kW. However, with an unladen weight of 10.16 tonnes, the Jingzhe is also slightly heavier than the Xiaoman, but should still be one to two tonnes lighter than many of its competitors, as the startup emphasises on its website.
As Zeron announced on the occasion of the financing round, the 700 units delivered have already covered over 25 million kilometres. And as the well-connected Chinese EV industry media outlet ‘36kr’ writes, Zeron is aiming to deliver 1,500 heavy-duty electric trucks this year. To this end, Zeron is also pushing ahead with the development of its own autonomous driving system called ZSD.
Momenta is recognised as one of the leading developers of autonomous driving systems in China. Just a few weeks ago, BMW entered into a partnership with the company to integrate Momenta’s AI-supported autonomous driving technology into its New Class electric cars. BMW is therefore relying on Momenta to remain competitive in the rapidly developing ADAS technologies in the People’s Republic.
The investment in Zeron is probably Momenta’s first foray into the heavy commercial vehicle sector. The background to this is apparently personal relationships: According to the CN EV Post, Momenta CEO Cao Xudong stated that he had known Zeron co-founder Huang Zhehua “for many years.” Huang had previously co-founded ToSimple and, like Cao, has long been active in the field of autonomous driving systems. The Momenta CEO went on to say that “Huang’s keen foresight into advanced technologies and deep respect for science and technology” were important factors in his confidence in Zeron.
cnevpost.com, zerontruck.com
