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 bore new fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two companies' joint venture plant was officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing, marking that BAIC Foton has gained a key voice in the field of new-energy core components for commercial vehicles and achieved a critical leap from strategic layout to on-the-ground implementation.

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 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 Directors and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, together with several hundred guests from government, both shareholder parties, partners and the media, gathered to witness this milestone moment.

01 Following the Tide of Industrial Transformation, Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

Today, the automotive industry is experiencing changes unseen in a century, with the waves of electrification and intelligence 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 the new-energy penetration rate projected to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ intelligent driving penetration in commercial vehicles reaching 30%. Meanwhile, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy independence has been elevated to a strategic priority for nations, pushing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven powertrains.

Built 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 to China for the first time, with production based 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, AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential and conventional axles to achieve the electrification of commercial vehicles. The product rolled off the line this time is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930V, delivering a continuous output of 210 kW and peak torque of 26,000 N·m. Fitted with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator, its 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 Continues to Empower, Joint Venture Cooperation Reaches a New Level

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two sides has been continuously deepened. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has cumulatively achieved sales revenue of 20 billion RMB. 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 cooperation between the two parties from conventional transmissions into the electric drive field.

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 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 difficulties. He noted that the roll-off of a 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, sustain technological leadership — fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's vehicle-application scenario advantages to accelerate the efficient conversion of electric drive axle technology from储备 (technology reserves) into commercial delivery.

Second, deepen customer value — focusing on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation to accelerate the value conversion from "roll-off and delivery" to "customer profitability."

Third, advance localization and cost efficiency — relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain to accelerate the localization of components, so that electric drive axles of global quality can benefit customers with better cost performance, helping new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their shift from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

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

Standing at the key starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass-production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important outcome of BAIC Foton's advancement of its three major strategies — "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new-energy transition, and comprehensive 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 vertically integrated synergistic 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. Going forward, 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 driven by the market.