BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Partnership Bears New Fruit — First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off the Line in Jiaxing

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

01 · Responding to Industry Transformation, Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

Today, the automotive industry is undergoing once-in-a-century transformation, with electrification and intelligentization sweeping the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize around 3.2 million units, with new-energy penetration projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ intelligent driving penetration in commercial vehicles reaching 30%. Meanwhile, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy self-reliance has become a strategic priority for nations worldwide, accelerating the commercial vehicle industry's shift from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

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

As ZF's integrated e-axle platform designed for next-generation commercial vehicles, AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, replacing the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential, and conventional axle with a modular design to achieve full commercial vehicle electrification. The product rolled off the line this time features a silicon carbide (SiC) inverter on a platform of up to 930V, delivering 210 kW of continuous output power and 26,000 N·m of peak torque. Equipped with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator, its compact design maximizes available battery placement space while fully synchronizing with the vehicle's braking, ADAS, and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient, intelligent system solution for the electrification of commercial vehicles.

02 · Jiaxing Base Continuously Empowering, Joint Venture Reaches New Heights

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, the cooperation between the two parties has continued to deepen. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has achieved cumulative sales of 20 billion RMB, and the Jiaxing base — with its advanced production systems and intelligent equipment — 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 marks a key step in extending the cooperation from traditional transmissions into the electric drive domain.

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

First, maintain continuous technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's vehicle application scenario advantages, accelerating the efficient conversion of e-axle technology from reserves to commercial delivery.

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

Third, advance localization and cost reduction, leveraging the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic supply chain to accelerate component localization, so that world-class e-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, Empowering Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the critical starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass production launch of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another significant achievement in BAIC Foton's advancement of its three major strategies — "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new-energyization, and comprehensive intelligentization." Facing industry trends of deep integration between electrification and intelligentization and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as leverage to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage across core components including batteries, electric drive, and electronic control.

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. Going forward, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant will continue to drive cost revolution through technological innovation, mine efficiency gains through lean management, and push new-energy commercial vehicles toward a new stage of market-driven growth.