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 Group bore new fruit—the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two companies' joint-venture plant officially rolled off the production line in Jiaxing. The event marks a key step forward in BAIC Foton's grasp of core new-energy components for commercial vehicles and a critical leap from strategic blueprint to on-the-ground delivery. Attendees included 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 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; and Andreas Moser, Member of the Board of Management of ZF Group and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, alongside several hundred guests from government, both shareholder companies, partners and the media, who together witnessed this milestone moment.

01. Responding to Industry Transformation, Strategic Positioning Bears Fruit

Today the automotive industry is undergoing a once-in-a-century transformation, as the waves of electrification and intelligentization sweep the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's domestic commercial-vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with new-energy penetration projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ intelligent driving to reach 30% of commercial vehicles. At the same time, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy-supply-chain landscape, and energy autonomy has risen to the strategic core of nations, compelling the commercial-vehicle industry to accelerate its shift from fuel-driven to electric-drive powertrains.

Based on a profound reading of 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 now officially rolled off the line at the joint-venture plant, turning this strategic blueprint into reality.

As an integrated electric drive axle platform that ZF has developed 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, driveshaft, differential and conventional axle, thereby achieving the electrification of commercial vehicles. The product launched this time is equipped with a silicon-carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930V, delivering continuous output of 210 kW and peak torque of 26,000 N·m, and fitted with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shifting actuator. Its compact design maximizes available space for battery placement 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 Continues to Empower, Joint-Venture Cooperation Reaches a New Level

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two sides has been continually deepened. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint-venture plant has achieved cumulative sales of RMB 20 billion, 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 is a key step in extending the partnership from conventional transmissions into the electric-drive domain.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt thanks to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, the 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 difficulties. He noted that the roll-off of a new product is only the first step of a long journey, and put forward three expectations for the joint venture's future development:

First, to sustain technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's vehicle-application and scenario advantages, accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from a technology reserve into commercial delivery;

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

Third, to advance localization and cost reduction with efficiency gains, drawing on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain to accelerate component localization—so that electric drive axles of global quality can benefit customers at a better price-performance ratio, and to help new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their transition from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

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

At this critical juncture—the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan—the mass-production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement of BAIC Foton's three strategies of full internationalization, full new-energy transition and full intelligence. Facing industry trends in which electrification and intelligentization are deeply converging and the global landscape is being restructured, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as a lever to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage across core components such as batteries, electric drives and electronic controls.

The official launch of production 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. Looking ahead, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint-venture plant will continue to drive a cost revolution through technological innovation and to unlock efficiency through lean management, pushing new-energy commercial vehicles to accelerate toward a new, market-driven stage.