Brushless & Gearless motor?

The Maestro

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 15, 2008
296
0
Hi,

I'm thinking about buying a motor on ebay (from china), it says 'Brushless & Gearless'. Whats the implication of a gearless motor? Does it mean that it won't cope with hills very well or be inefficient?
 

Mussels

Esteemed Pedelecer
Jun 17, 2008
3,207
8
Crowborough
Gearless, sounds odd but I assume they are talking about a hub motor which appears gearless.
If so it's similar to what Wisper and Ezee use but not like the Panasonic.
 

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,793
30,369
They can be fairly efficient, the BionX being a well known example, or very powerful but a bit greedy like the Crystalyte motor.

Overall though, they tend to be a bit on the weak side where climbing is concerned, the motor used in the Sparta and Koga bikes being a good example of that deficiency.

The fact that the overwhelming majority of motors are internally geared though that makes them more expensive to make says it all really, the manufacturers only doing that for the clear advantages of internal gearing, foregoing the simplicity of direct drive.

What motor is it you are looking at? Hopefully not the Goldenmotor. :(
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flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,793
30,369
Gearless, sounds odd but I assume they are talking about a hub motor which appears gearless.
If so it's similar to what Wisper and Ezee use but not like the Panasonic.
Just to clarify the difference, the Suzhou Bafang and similar motors used by eZee and Wisper are internally geared like those on most e-bikes. The internal epicyclic gearing reduces the motor speed of well over 1000 rpm in the main operating range to wheel speeds of around 150 to 220 rpm, depending on wheel size.

Direct Drive motors like the BionX, Crystalyte, Sparta and Goldenmotor run at wheel speed, the wired stator fixed on the spindle and the rotor magnets part of the hub.
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The Maestro

Esteemed Pedelecer
May 15, 2008
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0

flecc

Member
Oct 25, 2006
52,793
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It's certainly high revving enough to give high speeds, but impossible to judge the hill climbing on the scant details, no power curves etc. It will be inferior in that respect to an internally geared 500 watt hub motor like the Wisper's though, and almost certainly less economical.

The same motor is shown as a 48 volt 1000 watt version which would climb well but would eat batteries.
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