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 achieved another milestone: the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two companies' joint venture plant officially rolled off the production line in Jiaxing. The event marks BAIC Foton's acquisition of a critical voice in new energy core components for commercial vehicles and represents a decisive leap from strategic planning to real-world 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 Party Secretary, 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 Management and Head of Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology, joined hundreds of guests from government, both shareholder parties, partners and the media to witness this landmark moment.

01 Aligning with Industry Transformation: Strategy Delivers Results

Today, the automotive industry is 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 domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with the new energy penetration rate forecast 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 autonomy has been elevated to a core national strategy, pushing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

Based on this profound insight into 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 trucks. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential and conventional axle to electrify commercial vehicles. The product launched this time is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930V, delivering 210 kW of continuous output power and a peak torque of 26,000 N·m. Fitted with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator, the 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 of commercial vehicles.

02 The 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 parties has continued to deepen. To date, the Foton-ZF transmission joint venture plant has achieved cumulative sales of RMB 20 billion. 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 partnership from conventional transmissions into the field of electric drive.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt thanks to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, the municipal government, the Economic Development Zone and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support for the development of the 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 noted 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, maintain continuous technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's vehicle application scenario advantages, and accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology readiness 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 from "delivery off the line" to "customer profitability."

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with higher efficiency. Relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain, accelerate the localization of components so that electric drive axles of global quality benefit customers at a better cost-performance ratio, 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

At this key juncture — 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 of BAIC Foton's three major strategies of "full internationalization, full new energy transition and full intelligence." 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 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. Going forward, the 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 driven by the market.