BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Cooperation Bears Fruit: First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off Production Line

On June 22, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF Friedrichshafen (ZF) bore yet another significant fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle rolled off the production line at the joint venture factory in Jiaxing. This milestone marks BAIC Foton's acquisition of key voice in the new energy core components sector for commercial vehicles, achieving a critical leap from strategic planning to implementation.

Chapter and director of Jiaxing Economic and Technological Development Zone, the general manager of BAIC Group and chairman of BAIC Foton Mr. Chang Rui, the general manager of BAIC Foton Mr. Lu Zhenghua, vice president of BAIC Foton and chairman of ZF-Foton Mr. Cui Shipeng, ZF Group board member and head of Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions Andreas Moser, along with hundreds of guests from government, shareholders, partners, and media, gathered together to witness this milestone moment.

01 | Aligning with Industry Transformation, Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

Today, the automotive industry is experiencing unprecedented changes, with electrification and intelligentization 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 new energy penetration projected to reach 50% by 2030, and commercial vehicle L2+ intelligent driving reaching 30%. Meanwhile, geopolitical competition is reshaping global energy supply chain patterns, and energy independence has been elevated to a core strategic priority for nations, driving the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-drive systems.

Based on this deep insight into 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 based in Jiaxing. After three years of careful construction and preparation, the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle officially rolled off the line at the joint venture factory, marking the transformation of 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 vehicles. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, drive shaft, differential, and conventional axles to achieve commercial vehicle electrification. The product rolled off the line features a silicon carbide inverter with a maximum 930V platform, continuous output power reaching 210 kW, peak torque of 26,000 N·m, equipped with a 3-speed transmission and electronic gear shift actuator. While its compact design maximizes battery placement space, it achieves full synchronization with vehicle braking, ADAS, and autonomous driving systems, providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for commercial vehicle electrification transformation.

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

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two parties has continuously deepened. To date, the BAIC Foton-ZF transmission joint venture factory has accumulated total sales revenue of 20 billion yuan. The Jiaxing base, with its advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, is becoming ZF's important manufacturing, R&D, and functional headquarters in the Asia-Pacific region. The official roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle represents a key step in extending the partnership from traditional transmissions to the electric drive domain.

In his speech, Mr. Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Jiaxing Municipal Committee, Municipal Government, Economic Development Zone, and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support for the BAIC Foton-ZF transmission joint venture factory. He paid high tribute to the project team and all employees who worked day and night to overcome challenges. He stated 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, continue to lead in technology, fully leveraging ZF's global technology advantages and BAIC Foton's vehicle application scenario strengths, accelerating the efficient conversion of electric drive axles from technology reserves to commercial delivery;

Second, deepen customer value, focusing on core scenarios such as trunk logistics and regional transportation, accelerating the value conversion from "production delivery" to "customer profitability";

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with efficiency improvement, relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerating component localization so that electric drive axles with global quality can benefit customers at better cost-performance ratios, helping new energy commercial vehicles accelerate from "policy-driven" to "market-driven."

03 | Anchoring the "15th Five-Year Plan," Supporting Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the critical juncture of 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 advancement of its three major strategies: "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new energy, and comprehensive intelligentization." Facing the industry trend of deep integration of electrification and intelligentization, and the restructuring of global patterns, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as a starting point to build vertical integration synergy advantages 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. In the future, the BAIC Foton-ZF transmission joint venture factory will continue to drive cost revolution through technological innovation, tap efficiency potential through lean management, and push new energy commercial vehicles to accelerate toward a new stage of market-driven development.