BAIC 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 bore new fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two parties' joint venture factory officially rolled off the production line in Jiaxing, marking that BAIC Foton has gained a key voice in the field of core new-energy components for commercial vehicles, achieving a critical leap from strategic planning to actual 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 the government, both shareholder parties, partners, and the media, gathered together to witness this milestone moment.

01 Aligning with Industry Transformation Trends, Strategic Layout Yields Fruitful Results

Currently, the automotive industry is experiencing once-in-a-century upheaval, with the waves of electrification and intelligentization sweeping the globe. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the domestic commercial vehicle market will stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with the new energy penetration rate expected 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 landscape, and energy independence and controllability have risen to the strategic core of nations, forcing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transformation from fuel-driven to electric-driven.

Based on a profound insight into these 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 has officially rolled off the production line at the joint venture factory, marking that this strategic layout has transformed from blueprint to reality.

As an integrated electric drive axle platform developed by ZF for next-generation commercial vehicles, the AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium and heavy vehicles, replacing engines, transmissions, drive shafts, differentials, and conventional axles with a modular design to achieve the electrification of commercial vehicles. The product rolled off the line this time is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter on a maximum 930V platform, with continuous output power reaching 210 kW and peak torque reaching 26,000 N·m. It features a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator, maximizing battery placement space through its compact design while achieving full synchronization with vehicle braking, ADAS, and autonomous driving systems, providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for the electrification transformation of commercial vehicles.

02 Jiaxing Base Continues to Empower, Joint Venture Cooperation Reaches New Heights

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established the joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two parties has continuously deepened. Currently, the BAIC Foton and ZF transmission joint venture factory has cumulatively achieved RMB 20 billion in sales. 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 rollout of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle represents a key step in extending cooperation between the two parties from the traditional transmission field into the electric drive field.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, the 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, and paid high tribute to the project team and all employees who worked day and night to overcome challenges. He stated that the rollout 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 through technology by fully leveraging ZF's global technological advantages and BAIC Foton's complete vehicle scenario advantages, accelerating the efficient transformation 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 transformation of products from "delivery off the line" to "customer profitability";

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

03 Anchored in the "15th Five-Year Plan," Empowering the Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the critical juncture of the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," the mass production rollout of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement in BAIC Foton's advancement of the three major strategies of "full internationalization, full new-energy transition, and full intelligence." Facing industry trends of deep integration between electrification and intelligentization, and the restructuring of the global landscape, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as leverage to build vertical integration synergy advantages 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 localized development 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, unlock efficiency potential through lean management, and push new energy commercial vehicles to accelerate toward a new stage of market-driven development.