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 rolled off the line at the two companies' joint-venture plant in Jiaxing. This marks a key breakthrough by BAIC Foton in gaining a leading voice in core components for new-energy commercial vehicles, realizing a critical leap from strategic planning to actual implementation. 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, Secretary of the Party Committee 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 shareholders, partners, and the media, gathered to witness this milestone moment.

01 Adapting to Industrial Transformation, Strategic Planning Bears Fruit

Today, the automotive industry is experiencing profound changes unseen in a century, as the waves of electrification and intelligence sweep 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+ level intelligent driving for commercial vehicles reaching 30%. At the same time, geopolitical competition is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy autonomy has risen to the core of national strategies, compelling the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its transition from fuel-driven to electric-drive powertrains.

Based on this deep insight into 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 located 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, signaling that this strategic plan has been transformed from 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. Its modular design replaces the engine, transmission, driveshaft, differential, and conventional axle to achieve commercial vehicle electrification. The product launched this time features a silicon carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930V, with a continuous output power of 210 kW and a peak torque of 26,000 N·m. Equipped with a 3-speed transmission and electronic shift actuator, it maximizes available battery packaging space through a compact design while fully synchronizing with the vehicle's braking, ADAS, and autonomous driving systems — providing an efficient and intelligent system solution for the electrification transformation of commercial vehicles.

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

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, cooperation between the two sides has continued to deepen. 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 represents a key step in extending the two companies' cooperation from the traditional transmission field into the electric drive domain.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed sincere gratitude to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, the Economic Development Zone, and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support 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 challenges. He noted that the launch 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 through technology by fully leveraging ZF's global technological strengths and BAIC Foton's vehicle and application-scenario advantages, accelerating the efficient conversion of electric drive axles from technology reserves to product delivery;

Second, deepen customer value by closely focusing on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation, accelerating the value conversion of products from "roll-off and delivery" to "customer profitability";

Third, advance localization and cost reduction with efficiency gains by relying on the resilience of the domestic industrial chain and the advantages of scale, accelerating component localization so that globally-quality electric drive axles benefit customers with better cost performance, helping new-energy commercial vehicles accelerate their 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 critical starting point of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the mass-production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is another important achievement in BAIC Foton's advancement of its three major strategies of "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 a vertically integrated synergy advantage 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 technological 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 toward a new stage of market-driven development.