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 AG bore fresh fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from their joint-venture plant officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing. This milestone signals that BAIC Foton has secured a key voice in the core components segment of new-energy commercial vehicles, achieving a critical leap from strategic blueprint to on-the-ground 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 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 Board of Management of ZF Group and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions Division and Industrial Technology Division; and hundreds of guests from government, both shareholder sides, partners, and the media gathered to witness this landmark moment together.

01   Riding the Wave of Industrial Transformation — Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

Currently, the automotive industry is undergoing a once-in-a-century upheaval, with the waves of electrification and intelligent driving sweeping the globe. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, China's commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with new-energy penetration forecast 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, elevating energy self-sufficiency to a strategic priority for nations and pushing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its shift from fuel-driven to electric-drive powertrains.

It was precisely on the basis of a deep reading of these industry trends that, in April 2023, BAIC Foton and ZF signed a strategic agreement to introduce ZF's latest electric-drive technology into 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, marking the transformation of this strategic blueprint into reality.

As an integrated electric drive axle platform developed by ZF 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 axle, enabling the electrification of commercial vehicles. The product rolled off the line this time features a silicon-carbide inverter on a high 930V platform, delivering continuous output power of 210 kW and peak torque of 26,000 N·m. Equipped with a 3-speed transmission and an electronic gear-shifting 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, intelligent system solution for the electrification transition of commercial vehicles.

02   Jiaxing Base Continuously Empowers — 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 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 marks a key step in extending cooperation between the two sides from the traditional transmission field into the electric-drive domain.

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 stated 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 through technology. Fully leverage ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's complete-vehicle scenario advantages to accelerate the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserve to commercial delivery.

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

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with efficiency gains. Rely on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain to accelerate component localization, allowing an electric drive axle of global quality to benefit customers with a better price-performance ratio, and helping new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their shift from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

03   Anchored on 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 push of its three major strategies — "full internationalization, full electrification, and full intelligentization." Facing an industry trend in which electrification and intelligent driving are deeply integrated and the global landscape is being reshaped, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as levers to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage across 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. In the future, 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 toward a new stage of market-driven growth.