BAIC 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 Friedrichshafen (ZF) achieved another milestone — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle produced at the two companies' joint-venture plant officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing. The event marks a key step forward for BAIC Foton in gaining a critical voice in the field of new-energy core components for commercial vehicles, turning its long-term layout into tangible results. Distinguished guests including 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 and 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 the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, together with hundreds of guests from government, both shareholder sides, partners and the media, gathered to witness this landmark moment.
01Aligning with Industry Transformation, Strategic Layout Bears Fruit
Today, the automotive industry is experiencing once-in-a-century upheaval, with the waves of electrification and intelligence sweeping across 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 the new-energy penetration rate projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ intelligent driving penetration 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, compelling the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-drive 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 into China for the first time, with local production 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, signaling that this strategic layout has turned from blueprint into reality.
As ZF's integrated electric drive axle platform built for the next generation of commercial vehicles, the AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and conventional axles, enabling the electrification of commercial vehicles. The product rolled off the line this time is equipped with a silicon carbide (SiC) inverter on a platform of up to 930V, delivering a continuous output of 210 kW and a peak torque of 26,000 N·m. It features a 3-speed transmission with an electronic gear-shifting actuator, and its compact design maximizes battery packaging space while fully synchronizing with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for the electrification of commercial vehicles.
02Jiaxing Base Continues to Empower, Joint Venture Reaches 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 20 billion yuan. With advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming a key manufacturing, R&D and functional headquarters for ZF in the Asia-Pacific region. The official roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle marks a critical step in extending the two sides' cooperation from conventional transmissions into the electric drive domain.
In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt thanks to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, the Economic Development Zone and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support for 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 challenges. He noted that the roll-off of the 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, continue to lead with technology by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's whole-vehicle scenario advantages, and accelerate the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves to commercial delivery.
Second, deepen customer value by focusing on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation, and accelerate the value conversion from "roll-off and delivery" to "customer profitability."
Third, advance localization, cost reduction and efficiency improvement by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerate the localization of components, bring global-quality electric drive axles to customers at a better cost-performance ratio, and help new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their shift from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."
03 Anchored in the "15th Five-Year Plan," Supporting the Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles
Standing at the critical starting point 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 push of its three major strategies — "full internationalization, full new-energy transition, and full 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 vertically integrated 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 localization of electric drive technology in 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 stage of market-driven growth.