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

On June 22, the strategic cooperation between BAIC Foton and ZF bore new fruit — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle from the two companies' joint venture plant officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing, marking a critical leap from strategic layout to implementation and signaling that BAIC Foton has secured a key voice in the field of new-energy core components for commercial vehicles. 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, Party Committee 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 Board of Management of ZF Group and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, together with hundreds of guests from government, both shareholders, partners and the media, gathered to witness this milestone moment.

01 Aligning with Industry Transformation: Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

Today, the automotive industry is undergoing changes unseen in a century, with the waves of electrification and intelligence sweeping the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's 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+ level intelligent driving 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 core national strategy, pushing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-driven power.

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 officially rolled off the line at the joint venture plant, transforming this strategic blueprint into 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-duty vehicles, replacing the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential and conventional axle with a modular design to achieve full electrification. 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 power of 210 kW and a peak torque of 26,000 N·m, and is fitted with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator. Its compact design maximizes battery packaging space 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 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 sides has 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 is a key step in extending the partnership from conventional transmissions into the electric drive field.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed sincere gratitude to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, the municipal government, the Economic and Technological 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 with technology — fully leverage ZF's global technology advantages and BAIC Foton's vehicle-application scenario strengths, and accelerate the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves to commercial delivery.

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

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

03 Anchored on the 15th Five-Year Plan: Supporting the Green Transformation of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the key starting point of the first 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 in advancing its three major strategies of "comprehensive internationalization, comprehensive new-energy transformation and comprehensive 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 vertical integration synergies in core components such as batteries, electric drives and electronic controls.

The official launch of production 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, market-driven stage.