BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Partnership Bears New Fruit: First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off the Line in Jiaxing

On 22 June, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF Friedrichshafen delivered a new milestone — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle rolled off the production line at the two companies' joint venture plant in Jiaxing. The event marks a decisive step for BAIC Foton in securing a key voice in the core components segment of new energy commercial vehicles, completing the leap from strategic layout to physical delivery. 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, 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 Board of Management of ZF Group and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, joined several hundred guests from government, both shareholder parties, the partner community and the media to witness the milestone.

01  Ripening a Strategic Layout in Line with the Tide of Industry Change

The automotive industry is currently experiencing its greatest transformation in a century, as the waves of electrification and intelligentisation sweep the globe. Over the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilise at roughly 3.2 million units, 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 independence has been elevated to a strategic priority for nations worldwide, compelling the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

It is precisely on the basis of this deep insight into industry trends that BAIC Foton and ZF signed a strategic agreement in April 2023, introducing ZF's latest electric drive technology to China for the first time and locating production in Jiaxing. After three years of meticulous construction and preparation, the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle has officially rolled off the line at the joint venture plant, turning that strategic blueprint into reality.

Developed by ZF for next-generation commercial vehicles, the AxTrax 2 integrated electric drive axle platform can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular architecture replaces the engine, transmission, propeller shaft, differential and conventional axle to achieve full vehicle electrification. The product rolled off the line is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930 V, delivering 210 kW of continuous output power and 26,000 N·m of peak torque, and is paired with a three-speed transmission and an electronic shift actuator. While its compact design frees up the maximum possible space for battery packaging, it is fully synchronised with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient, intelligent system-level solution for the electrification transition of commercial vehicles.

02  Continuous Empowerment from the Jiaxing Base Lifts the Joint Venture to 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. Backed by advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming one of ZF's most important manufacturing, R&D and functional headquarters sites in the Asia-Pacific region. The official roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle represents a critical step in extending the partnership from the traditional transmission domain 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 the relevant departments for their longstanding 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 formidable challenges. 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 future development of the joint venture:

First, sustain technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's advantages in complete vehicles and application scenarios, accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves into commercially delivered products.

Second, deepen customer value by keeping a close focus on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation, speeding up the value conversion from "delivery off the line" to "profitability for the customer".

Third, advance localisation, cost reduction and efficiency improvement by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerating component localisation so that electric drive axles of global quality benefit customers at even better value, and helping new energy commercial vehicles move rapidly 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 juncture of the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass-production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is yet another important achievement in BAIC Foton's push of its three grand strategies: comprehensive internationalisation, comprehensive new energy transition and comprehensive intelligentisation. Facing industry trends in which electrification and intelligentisation are deeply converging and the global 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 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 localisation of electric drive technology across 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, market-driven stage.