Electric drive system with power take-off (PTO) and electric drive operating method

Systems and methods for an electric drive. The electric drive system includes, in one example, a first electric machine rotationally coupled to a first sun gear in a first planetary gear set and a second electric machine rotationally coupled to a second sun gear in a second planetary gear set. The electric drive system further includes a first clutch configured to selectively rotationally couple the second sun gear to a first ring gear in the first planetary gear set, a second clutch configured to ground a second ring gear in the second planetary gear set, and a power take-off (PTO) clutch configured to selectively rotationally couple the first electric machine or the first planetary gear set to a PTO device.