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 once again bore fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle rolled off the production line at the two companies' joint venture plant in Jiaxing, marking a key leap from planning to execution and signaling that BAIC Foton has secured a critical voice in the field of new-energy core components for commercial vehicles.

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, 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 several hundred guests from government, both shareholder parties, partners and the media, gathered together to witness this milestone moment.

01 Aligning with Industry Transformation: Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

The automotive industry is currently undergoing changes unseen in a century, as the waves of electrification and intelligence sweep across the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with the new-energy penetration rate projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ intelligent driving in commercial vehicles reaching 30%. At the same time, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy independence has been elevated to a core national strategy, forcing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its shift 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 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 ZF's integrated electric drive axle platform designed for next-generation commercial vehicles, the AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential and conventional axle to achieve 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 continuous output power of 210 kW and peak torque of 26,000 N·m. Fitted with a 3-speed transmission and an electronic gear-shifting actuator, its compact design maximizes available space for battery placement while achieving full synchronization with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for the electrification of commercial vehicles.

02 The 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 continuously deepened. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has achieved cumulative sales of 20 billion yuan. 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 the conventional transmission field into the electric drive domain.

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 journey, and put forward three expectations for the future development of the joint venture:

First, sustain technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology advantages and BAIC Foton's vehicle application scenario strengths, and accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology储备 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 by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerating the localization of components so that electric drive axles of global quality benefit customers at better value for money, and helping 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 in BAIC Foton's advancement of its three major strategies: "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new-energy transformation and comprehensive 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, e-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 tap into efficiency gains through lean management, pushing new-energy commercial vehicles to accelerate into a new stage of market-driven development.