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

On June 22, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF (ZF Friedrichshafen) bore new fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two companies' joint-venture plant officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing. The milestone marks BAIC Foton's acquisition of a key voice in the field of new-energy core components for commercial vehicles and a decisive leap from strategic positioning to on-the-ground 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 Committee Secretary 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 Management Board and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, joined several hundred guests from government, both shareholder parties, the partner ecosystem and the media to witness the moment.

01  Aligning with the Wave of Industrial Transformation: Strategic Positioning Bears Fruit

The automotive industry is today going through changes unseen in a century, 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 adoption in commercial vehicles reaching 30%. At the same time, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy autonomy has been elevated into a core national strategy — compelling the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

Built on a deep reading of these industry 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 local production based 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 electric drive axle platform engineered for next-generation commercial vehicles, AxTrax 2 can be applied to both medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular architecture replaces the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential and conventional axle to achieve full vehicle electrification. The unit launched this time is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter operating on a platform of up to 930V, delivering 210 kW of continuous output power and peak torque of 26,000 N·m, paired with a three-speed transmission and an electronic gear-shifting actuator. Its compact design maximizes the space available for battery packaging while achieving complete synchronization with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient, intelligent system solution for the electrification of commercial vehicles.

02  The Jiaxing Base Continues to Empower: Joint Venture Reaches a New Level

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two sides has deepened continuously. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint-venture plant has achieved cumulative sales of RMB 20 billion. Leveraging advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming ZF's important manufacturing, R&D and functional headquarters for 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, the municipal government, the Economic and Technological 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 tribute to the project team and all employees who worked day and night to overcome the challenges along the way. He noted that the roll-off of a new product is only the first step of a long march, and put forward three expectations for the joint venture's future development:

First, sustained technology leadership. Fully leverage ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's advantages in complete-vehicle application scenarios to accelerate the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves into commercial delivery.

Second, deeper customer value. Keep a close focus on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation, accelerating the value conversion from "delivery off the line" to "customer profitability."

Third, advance localization, cost reduction and efficiency gains. Relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain, accelerate the localization of components so that electric drive axles of global quality benefit customers at better value for money — helping new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their shift from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

03  Anchored to the "15th Five-Year Plan," Powering the Green Transition of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the critical opening node of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement in BAIC Foton's push of its three major strategies: full internationalization, full new-energy transition and full intelligentization. Facing industry trends in which electrification and intelligentization are deeply converging and the global competitive landscape is being restructured, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as its lever to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage across 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. 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, pushing new-energy commercial vehicles to accelerate into a new, market-driven phase.