Hub Motors

[MrGentry]

Next semester I plan to have my students build an electric trike. I was planning to use the my1020 48 volt, 1000 watt motor, but I have found a 48 volt, 1000 watt hub motor kit that seems interesting.

What are the pros and cons of hub motors? It looks like this hub motor is brushless. Is that better?

Here is the hub motor:
http://www.leafmotor.com/hub-motor/...hless-motor-electric-bike-conversion-kit.html

Here is the other motor I had planned to use:
http://www.monsterscooterparts.com/48v-1000w-motor-controller-throttle-kit.html

 

[itsid]

pro:
- it's already geared so that you don't have to worry about that
- lower partscount ie. less moving parts
- if bought in a set, all parts actually MATCH without further hassle

cons:
- it's already geared so that you cannot just swap the ratio and end up with more or less speed if you want
- it requires the wheel to be mounted left and right of the axle (just like in a bicycle) so on a trike you will have only one wheel driven (with just one motor) and that awkward extra outer mounting bar.
- if one part of said set fails, it might be hard to find matching replacement.

Personally, for a bicycle I'd take the hub motor, for any trike or kart the my1020
but that's just an opinion

'sid