BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Partnership Yields 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 delivered another milestone: the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle officially rolled off the production line at the two companies' joint venture plant in Jiaxing. The event signals that BAIC Foton has secured a key voice in the core components segment of new-energy commercial vehicles, turning strategic planning into tangible industrial 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 Secretary of the Party Committee, 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; and Andreas Moser, Member of the ZF Group Board of Directors and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology Divisions, joined hundreds of guests from government, shareholder companies, partners and the media to witness the historic moment.

01  Riding the Wave of Industry Transformation — Strategy Bears Fruit

The automotive industry is going through a once-in-a-century transformation, as electrification and intelligentization sweep the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026–2030), China's domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units per year, with the new-energy penetration rate forecast 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 self-reliance has been elevated to a strategic priority for nations worldwide—pressuring the commercial vehicle sector to accelerate its shift from fuel-driven to electric-drive powertrains.

Based 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 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 designed for next-generation commercial vehicles, AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty trucks, replacing the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential and conventional axle with a modular design to electrify the entire commercial vehicle drivetrain. The product 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 26,000 N·m of peak torque. It features a 3-speed transmission with an electronic shift actuator. Its compact design frees up maximum space for battery packaging while fully synchronizing 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 Keeps Empowering — 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. With its advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base 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 e-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 of the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant, and paid 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 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-level application scenario advantages, accelerating the efficient conversion of e-axle know-how into commercialized deliveries;

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

Third, advance localization and cost reduction by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic supply chain, speeding up the localization of components so that world-class e-axles can benefit customers at a better cost-performance ratio—helping new-energy commercial vehicles transition from "policy-driven" to "market-driven" at a faster pace.

03  Anchored on the 15th Five-Year Plan — Powering the Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the opening milestone of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass-production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement in BAIC Foton's push to realize its three major strategies of "full internationalization, full new-energy transition, and full intelligentization." Facing an industry trend of deep convergence between electrification and intelligentization, alongside a reshaping of the global competitive landscape, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as a lever to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage across core components such as batteries, e-drives and electronic controls.

The official start of production of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle not only provides strong technical support for BAIC Foton's new-energy commercial vehicle lineup, but also sets a benchmark for the localization of e-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 unlock efficiency through lean management, pushing new-energy commercial vehicles into a new, market-driven phase of development.