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 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. This milestone signals that BAIC Foton has seized a critical voice in the field of new energy core components for commercial vehicles, achieving a key leap from strategic planning to concrete execution.

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 ofZF-Foton; Andreas Moser, Member of the ZF Group Board of Management and Head of Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology; along with hundreds of guests from government, both shareholder parties, partners, and the media, gathered to witness this landmark moment.

01. Aligning with Industry Transformation, Strategic Layout Yields Fruit

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

Based on a deep 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, turning this strategic blueprint into reality.

As an integrated electric drive axle platform developed by ZF for next-generation commercial vehicles, the AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential, and conventional axle, enabling the 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 a continuous output power of 210 kW and a peak torque of 26,000 N·m. It features a 3-speed transmission and electronic gear-shifting actuator, maximizing battery packaging space through compact design while achieving full synchronization with the vehicle's braking, ADAS, and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for the electrification transformation 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, cooperation between the two sides has continued to deepen. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has accumulated 20 billion yuan in sales revenue. With its advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming a key 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 critical step in extending the two companies' cooperation from traditional transmissions into the electric drive domain.

In his address, 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 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, sustained technological leadership — fully leveraging ZF's global technology advantages and BAIC Foton's vehicle-scenario strengths to accelerate the efficient conversion of electric drive axles from technology reserves to commercial delivery.

Second, deepened customer value — focusing on core scenarios such as trunk logistics and regional transportation, and accelerating the value conversion of products from "roll-off and delivery" to "customer profitability."

Third, advancing localization and cost reduction with efficiency gains — relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain to accelerate component localization, so that world-class electric drive axles can benefit customers with better cost-performance ratios, and help new energy commercial vehicles accelerate their shift from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

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

Standing at the critical starting point of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the mass production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is yet another important achievement of BAIC Foton's three major strategies: "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new energy transition, and comprehensive intelligentization." Facing industry trends of deep integration between electrification and intelligentization, and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is leveraging key technologies 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. Going forward, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant will continue to drive a cost revolution through technological innovation and unlock efficiency through lean management, propelling new energy commercial vehicles toward a new stage of market-driven growth.