On 31 October 2026 in Chengdu, truck maker Xizhong Auto launched its X-Truck battery-swap heavy tractor around one component: an axial-flux motor integrated e-axle from Shanghai Pangu Power. The commercial vehicle e-axle now competes on mass, not peak torque.

A Tractor Built Around the E-Axle

The X-Truck swaps its floor-mounted battery in five minutes, and battery-chassis separation cuts first purchase cost by about 60%. With the Pangu Power axial-flux integrated e-axle, curb weight of about 10.2 tonnes leaves room for one tonne more payload within legal limits, and energy use runs over 10% lower than comparable models on a real-freight run from Taigu in Shanxi to Huanghua Port in Hebei.

Why Axial Flux Fits the Drive Axle

An axial-flux motor carries flux along the axle axis, so it is shorter and flatter than a radial motor of equal power: about 50% less weight and volume, efficiency above 97%, speeds up to 18,000 rpm, per industry reporting on 3 November. In an integrated e-axle, the flat motor clears space for floor-mounted batteries, and every kilogram saved at the drive axle becomes payload. Pangu Power and the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering solved the material risk with PGH magnets stable at 200 degrees C.

The Hard Part Is the Line, Not the Physics

Pangu Power runs China's first large-scale axial-flux production line in Lanxi, Zhejiang: each line costs 50-60 million yuan, carries over 150 process steps and holds yield above 98%, with orders booked into the first quarter of 2027. Mercedes-Benz builds axial-flux units with YASA in Berlin; its AMG.EA front-axle motor is under 9 centimetres thick. For trucks, estimates put axial-flux gains at 200 kg of weight and 5-10% lower energy use.

What It Means for Axle Makers

The motor is moving inside the axle housing, so e-axle value shifts from gears to integration: housing strength, sealing, thermal management and co-design. An axle maker with forging and housing capability can hold the mechanical core while partnering for electronics, as Xizhong Auto and Pangu Power chose. For a supplier such as Zhucheng Yihe Axle, the task is to win motor-in-axle packaging work early, because payload per kilogram is now the buying criterion for battery-swap fleets.

Conclusion

On 31 October 2026 a Chinese heavy tractor first shipped with a mass-production axial-flux integrated e-axle that adds one tonne of payload and cuts energy use by more than 10%. From here, production yield, not motor physics, decides who wins the commercial vehicle e-axle market.