BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Partnership Bears New Fruit: First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off the Production Line

On June 22, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF bore new fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two parties' joint venture plant officially rolled off the production line in Jiaxing, marking that BAIC Foton has seized a key voice in the field of new energy core components for commercial vehicles and achieved a critical leap from strategic planning to real-world implementation. Zhang Lan, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone; Chang Rui, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, General Manager of BAIC Group and Chairman of BAIC Foton; Lu Zhenghua, Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of BAIC Foton; Cui Shipeng, Deputy General Manager of BAIC Foton and Chairman of ZF Foton; and Andreas Moser, Member of the ZF Group Board of Management and Head of Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology Divisions, together with hundreds of guests from government, both shareholder parties, partners and the media, gathered together to jointly witness this milestone moment.

01  Aligning with Industry Transformation: Strategic Planning Bears Fruit

Today, the automotive industry is experiencing a once-in-a-century transformation, with the waves of electrification and intelligence sweeping the globe. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with the new energy penetration rate projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ intelligent driving penetration in commercial vehicles to reach 30%. Meanwhile, geopolitical maneuvering is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy independence and controllability have been elevated to a strategic core for nations, compelling the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven power.

Based on a profound insight into these industry trends, in April 2023 BAIC Foton and ZF signed a strategic agreement to introduce ZF's latest electric drive technology to China for the first time, with production located in Jiaxing. After three years of careful construction and preparation, the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle has officially rolled off the line at the joint venture plant, marking the transformation of this strategic blueprint into reality.

As an integrated electric drive axle platform developed by ZF for the next generation of commercial vehicles, the AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, using a modular design to replace the engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and conventional axle to achieve electrification of commercial vehicles. The product rolled off the line this time is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930V, delivering continuous output power of 210 kW and peak torque of 26,000 N·m, with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator. While its compact design maximizes available space for battery placement, it is fully synchronized with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems, providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for the electrification transition of commercial vehicles.

02  Jiaxing Base Continues to Empower: Joint Venture Cooperation Reaches New Heights

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two parties has been continuously deepened. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has cumulatively achieved RMB 20 billion in sales revenue. With advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming an important manufacturing, R&D and functional headquarters for ZF in the Asia-Pacific region. The official roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is a key step in extending the cooperation between the two parties from the traditional transmission field into the electric drive field.

In his speech, Mr. Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt thanks to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, the Economic Development Zone and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support for the development of the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant, and paid high respect to the project team and all employees who worked day and night to overcome difficulties. He stated that the roll-off of the new product is only the first step of a long march, and put forward three expectations for the future development of the joint venture:

First, continue to lead with technology by fully leveraging ZF's global technology advantages and BAIC Foton's complete-vehicle scenario advantages, accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves to product delivery;

Second, deepen customer value by closely focusing on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation, accelerating the value conversion of the product from "roll-off delivery" to "customer profitability";

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with efficiency gains by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerating component localization so that world-quality electric drive axles benefit customers with better cost performance, helping new energy commercial vehicles accelerate their transition from "policy-driven" to "market-driven".

03  Anchoring the "15th Five-Year Plan": Driving Green Transformation in Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the critical juncture of the inaugural year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the mass production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement in BAIC Foton's advancement of its three major strategies: "full internationalization, full new energy transition, and full intelligentization." Facing industry trends of deep integration between electrification and intelligence and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as levers to build vertically integrated synergy advantages in core components such as batteries, electric drives and electronic controls.

The official production launch of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle not only provides strong technical support for BAIC Foton's new energy commercial vehicles, but also sets a benchmark for the localization of electric drive technology in China's commercial vehicle industry. In the future, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant will continue to drive a cost revolution through technological innovation and unlock efficiency potential through lean management, pushing new energy commercial vehicles to accelerate toward a new stage of market-driven development.