BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Cooperation Bears New Fruit — First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off Production Line

On June 22, the strategic cooperation between BAIC Foton and ZF bore new fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from their joint venture factory officially rolled off the production line in Jiaxing, marking that BAIC Foton has gained a key voice in the field of new energy core components for commercial vehicles, achieving a critical leap from strategic deployment to implementation. Zhang Lan, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of 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 Management and Head of Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology Divisions, along with hundreds of guests from government, both shareholders, partners, and media, gathered to witness this milestone moment together.

01 Aligning with Industry Transformation, Strategic Deployment Bears Fruit

The automotive industry is currently experiencing once-in-a-century upheaval, with electrification and intelligentization sweeping 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 new energy penetration projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ level intelligent driving for commercial vehicles reaching 30%. Meanwhile, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain landscape, and energy independence has risen to become a core strategy for nations, driving the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-powered to electric drive.

Based on a profound insight into 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 was officially rolled off the line at the joint venture factory, marking the transformation of this strategic deployment from blueprint to 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 vehicles, replacing engines, transmissions, drive shafts, differentials, and conventional axles with a modular design to achieve commercial vehicle electrification. The product rolled off today features a 930V platform silicon carbide inverter, with continuous output power reaching 210 kW and peak torque of 26,000 N·m. Equipped with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator, it maximizes battery placement space through compact design while achieving full synchronization with vehicle braking, ADAS, and autonomous driving systems, providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for commercial vehicle electrification transformation.

02 Jiaxing Base Continuously Empowering, Joint Venture Cooperation Reaches New Heights

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture company in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two parties has been continuously deepening. To date, the BAIC Foton and ZF transmission joint venture factory has achieved cumulative sales of 20 billion yuan. The Jiaxing base, with its advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, 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 represents a critical step in extending cooperation from traditional transmissions to electric drive systems.

In his speech, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, Economic Development Zone, and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support for the development of the BAIC Foton and ZF transmission joint venture factory. He paid tribute to the project team and all employees who worked day and night to overcome challenges. 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, continue to lead with technology by fully leveraging ZF's global technology advantages and BAIC Foton's vehicle application scenario strengths, accelerating the efficient conversion of electric drive axles from technology reserves to commercial delivery;

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

Third, promote localization and cost reduction by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerating component localization, so that globally-qualified electric drive axles benefit customers with better cost-performance ratios, helping new energy commercial vehicles accelerate from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

03 Anchoring the 15th Five-Year Plan, Empowering Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the critical juncture of the opening 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 promotion of its three major strategies of "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new energy transition, and comprehensive intelligentization." Facing industry trends of deep integration of electrification and intelligentization, and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is leveraging key technologies to build vertically integrated collaborative advantages in 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. In the future, the BAIC Foton and ZF transmission joint venture factory will continue to drive cost revolution through technological innovation, tap into efficiency potential through lean management, and push new energy commercial vehicles to accelerate toward a new stage of market-driven growth.