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

On June 22, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF Group delivered another milestone — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle rolled off the line at the two companies' joint venture plant in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang Province. The event marks a decisive step for BAIC Foton in seizing key influence over core new-energy components for commercial vehicles, turning a long-term blueprint into tangible industrial reality. Zhang Lan, Secretary of the Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone; Chang Rui, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and 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; Andreas Moser, Member of the Board of Management of ZF Group and Head of Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology Divisions, together with hundreds of guests from government, both shareholders, partners and the media, witnessed this landmark moment.

01 | Aligning with Industry Transformation: Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

The global automotive industry is undergoing once-in-a-century upheaval, with electrification and intelligence sweeping every market. During China's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), the 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 on commercial vehicles reaching 30%. At the same time, geopolitical competition is reshaping global energy supply chains, elevating energy autonomy to a core national strategy and pushing the commercial vehicle sector to accelerate its shift from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

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

As ZF's integrated e-axle platform designed for the next generation of commercial vehicles, AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty trucks, using a modular architecture that replaces the engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and conventional axle to fully electrify commercial vehicles. The product rolled off the line features a silicon carbide inverter on a 930V platform, delivering 210 kW of continuous output power and peak torque of 26,000 N·m. Equipped with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator, its compact design frees up maximum space for battery packaging while achieving full synchronization with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient, intelligent system-level solution for the electrification of commercial vehicles.

02 | Jiaxing Base Continues to Empower, Joint Venture Reaches a New Level

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

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

First, sustain technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's vehicle-platform and use-case advantages, and accelerate the efficient conversion of e-axle technology from reserves to commercial delivery.

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

Third, advance localization, cost reduction and efficiency gains by relying on the resilience and scale of China's domestic supply chain, accelerating the localization of components so that world-class e-axles can benefit customers at a better price-performance ratio, helping new-energy commercial vehicles move from "policy-driven" to "market-driven" at an accelerated pace.

03 | Anchored on the 15th Five-Year Plan, Supporting the Green Transition of Commercial Vehicles

At this pivotal starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass production launch of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement of BAIC Foton's three major strategies — full internationalization, full new-energy transformation and full intelligentization. Facing an industry trend defined by the deep integration of electrification and intelligence and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as its lever to build vertically integrated synergies across core components including batteries, e-drives and electronic controls.

The official production launch of the AxTrax 2 not only provides strong technical support for BAIC Foton's new-energy commercial vehicle lineup, but also sets a benchmark for the localization of electric drive technology across China's commercial vehicle industry. Going forward, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture will continue to drive a cost revolution through technological innovation and unlock efficiency through lean management, pushing new-energy commercial vehicles into a new phase led by market demand.