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 fresh fruit: the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle produced by the two companies' joint venture plant officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing, marking that BAIC Foton has gained a key voice in the field of new-energy core components for commercial vehicles and achieved a critical leap from strategic planning to real-world 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 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 ZF Group Board of Directors and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions; along with hundreds of guests from government, both shareholder parties, partners and the media, gathered together to witness this milestone moment.

01 Aligning with Industry Transformation: Strategic Layout Yields Results

Today, the automotive industry is undergoing a once-in-a-century transformation, as the waves of electrification and intelligence sweep the globe. During the 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 in commercial vehicles reaching 30%. Meanwhile, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy independence has been elevated to a strategic priority for nations, pushing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

Based on a profound insight into these industry trends, BAIC Foton and ZF signed a strategic agreement in April 2023 to introduce ZF's latest electric drive technology to 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 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 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 rolled off the line this time is equipped with a silicon-carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930V, delivering a continuous output of 210 kW and a peak torque of 26,000 N·m. With a 3-speed transmission and electronic gear-shifting actuator, its compact design maximizes available space for battery packaging while achieving full synchronization with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems, providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for the electrification transition of commercial vehicles.

02 The Jiaxing Base Keeps Empowering: 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 continuously deepened. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has accumulated RMB 20 billion in sales revenue. With 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 two sides' cooperation from the traditional transmission field into the electric drive field.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt gratitude 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 difficulties. He stated 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, maintain continuous technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's complete-vehicle application scenario advantages, and accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves to commercial delivery;

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

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with improved efficiency. Relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerate the localization of components so that electric drive axles of global quality can benefit customers with better cost-performance, and help new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their shift from "policy-driven" to "market-driven".

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

Standing at the critical starting point of the first 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 in advancing its three major strategies of "full internationalization, full new-energy transformation and full intelligentization". Facing industry trends of deep integration between electrification and intelligence and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as a lever to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage in core components such as batteries, electric drives and electronic controls.

The official commissioning 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 unlock efficiency through lean management, pushing new-energy commercial vehicles to accelerate into a new stage of market-driven development.