AUTHOR=Liu Yingshuai , Tan Jingsong , Shi Shuo , Tan Jianwei 
  
TITLE=Electric drive axle systems in new energy vehicles
  
JOURNAL=Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering
  
VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2026
  
YEAR=2026
  
URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/mechanical-engineering/articles/10.3389/fmech.2026.1745639
  
DOI=10.3389/fmech.2026.1745639
  
ISSN=2297-3079
  
ABSTRACT=This study set out to benchmark how far recent advances in motor–gearbox integration, thermal management and control algorithms could jointly raise the efficiency of electric-drive axles for new-energy vehicles. The different schools of thought regarding the integration of electric motors and gearboxes were discussed and distilled into a single framework before quantitative analysis began. A 2020–2025 literature synthesis then revealed that, relative to single-speed hardware, two-speed gearboxes increased motorway-cycle motor efficiency by 5%–7% without raising urban energy demand; oil–water hybrid cooling restricted the motor-and-gearbox temperature band to ±3 °C and lifted heat-transfer efficiency by 25%; while model-predictive control with road-slope preview curbed hilly-route consumption by 8%–10% and cut torque-response latency by ∼30%. CFRP housings, titanium-matrix rotors and topology-optimised planetary trains further lowered axle mass by 15%–20% and gear-mesh noise by 8–10 dB, offsetting the added mechanical complexity. Collectively, these refinements yielded a ∼10% net energy saving and 30% faster transient response, proving that concurrent hardware–thermal–software optimisation extended vehicle range without battery upsizing. Standardised extreme-temperature durability protocols, low-cost stamped micro-channel coolers and digital-twin-based predictive maintenance were identified as the next steps to accelerate commercial deployment.