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 fresh fruit—the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle produced at the two companies' joint venture plant officially rolled off the line in Jiaxing. The event marks a key leap from layout to implementation, signaling that BAIC Foton has gained important influence 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 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 Management and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology Divisions, together with several hundred guests from government, both shareholder sides, partners and the media, gathered to jointly witness this milestone moment.

01 Adapting to Industrial Transformation: Strategic Layout Bears Fruit

Today, the automotive industry is experiencing changes unseen in a century, with the waves of 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 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 risen to the strategic core of nations, pushing the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its shift from fuel-driven to electric-driven power.

Based on a profound insight into these industry trends, BAIC Foton and ZF signed a strategic agreement in April 2023, introducing ZF's latest electric drive technology to China for the first time and establishing production 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 layout from blueprint to reality.

As ZF's integrated electric drive axle platform built for the next generation of 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 axle to achieve the electrification of commercial vehicles. The product launched this time features a silicon carbide 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, equipped with a 3-speed transmission and an electronic gear-shifting actuator. While its compact design maximizes the space available for battery placement, it also achieves 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 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 is a key step in extending the two companies' cooperation from the traditional transmission field 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 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, to sustain technological leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology advantages and BAIC Foton's vehicle application-scenario advantages, and accelerating the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves to commercial delivery;

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

Third, to advance localization and cost reduction and efficiency improvement by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of the domestic industrial chain, accelerating the localization of components so that electric drive axles of global quality benefit customers with better cost performance, 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 critical starting point 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 and comprehensive intelligentization." Facing industry trends in which electrification and intelligentization are deeply integrated and the global landscape is being restructured, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as a lever to build a vertically integrated collaborative advantage 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, unlock efficiency through lean management, and push new energy commercial vehicles to accelerate toward a new stage of market-driven development.