Methods and systems for an electric drive axle of a vehicle are provided. An electric drive axle system includes, in one example, an electric motor-generator rotationally coupled to a gear train. The gear train includes an output shaft rotationally coupled to a gear assembly axially offset from an input shaft rotationally coupled to the electric motor-generator, where the gear assembly is rotationally coupled to a differential and the differential is rotationally coupled to an axle, a first clutch assembly is configured to rotationally couple and decouple a first gear set from the output shaft, and a second clutch assembly is configured to rotationally couple and decouple a second gear set from the output shaft, the second gear set having a different gear ratio than the first gear set.