What is the best, highest-performance, MASS PRODUCED hub motor?

[MisterB]

Hi everyone,
I came to this forum specifically to have one question answered: What is the best, highest performance, mass produced BLDC hub motor available? From what I can see from some Googling and Amazon/Ebay searches, 3kw per hub motor seems about the best ebike motor anyone has made in mass production. I've built one ebike in my life, it was a 1000w front-wheel-drive hub motor build from a kit that I bought off Ebay. I've had a blast with it, but I think I can some huge improvements on the motor design. I can't find any ebike motors (or any other BLDC motors, for that matter) which use the design idea which I have come up with. My new motor design seems so obvious that I can't believe nobody else has thought of it yet - so even though I can't find any motors using this design element yet, I wanted to ask some "in the know" people - what is the highest-performance, single-motor hub motor solution that you've seen for an ebike? I know some people are making bikes with 5kw per motor, as I've heard of 10kw two-wheel-drive ebikes - but I suspect those are just upgraded versions of the commonly-available 3kw motors out there. I'm interested to hear what you all have to say about this. Thanks.

[tklop]

I am not sure what you mean by "MASS PRODUCED". Perhaps some clarification might garner some richer responses here.

But I am a little bit afraid that it seems you don't understand the e-bike market very well. When it comes to very-high-power hub-motors, it's a niche market. There aren't now, and likely will never be millions and millions of them out there--until or unless the entire motorcycle industry goes electric. Now, maybe that transformation of the motorcycle industry will come as a result of your design-improvement--wouldn't that be cool?

On the other hand, if by "MASS PRODUCED" you really only meant "built in a factory, in a production-run" as-opposed to some one-time custom-build hub-motor--then there are indeed many of them out there!

Which one is the best? I do not know. I've seen them at Cyclone-TW, I've seen them at Uncle Ali's, I've seen them at Luna Cycle. But having no personal experience with any of them, I feel in no position to judge which is "Best." Even those forum-members with hands-on experience may differ widely in their assessments and opinions. I'd expect that. "Which is the best?" is a difficult question to definitively answer.

If I read your post right, I assume you want to be able to look at all the various big and powerful hub-motors out there, to see if any have included your "mystery motor design improvement." Am I right? But I wonder--how do you propose to do that research? Are you willing to purchase each of the many high-powered hub-motors you wish to analyze? That could get real expensive--and a good reason to know which is "Best" so you don't waste a lot of money buying all those motors which might be "not-quite-the-best" ones.

Or did you want people here to break down the motors that they paid for--to answer your queries? If so, were you planning to compensate these forum members for their help?

If you're looking to get rich off your idea (and it sounds like you are) it makes good sense to not just spell out your whole design-idea--not to just lay it all out on the table. I get that. Being vague makes some degree of sense! But if you're looking to get rich, I don't think you should expect a bunch of folks to "volunteer" their investments and their time, in order to help get you there!

Have you tried to contact any of the hub-motors' manufacturers? Maybe they'd be willing to send you pictures or schematics to help your research.

In any case, if your idea for a design-improvement is a good one, I wish you all the best with its advancement, and eventual launch into the marketplace.

Maybe you're the guy who can forever transform the world of High Voltage High Speed Hub Motors!

Take care,

Tklop

[JPLabs]

Good advice, I think, generally.

If the OP's quest was simply to discover if a specific design feature (invention) had been implemented previously, to see if there was opportunity to do something new, it would not make sense to limit the search only to mass produced motors, though. An example of one would still be prior art, and the OP would be perhaps more likely to find an advanced feature in motors which are 'pushing the envelope', rather than mass produced ones. Even limiting the search to built motors wouldn't make sense, for that purpose. Designs on paper count, too.

I, too, am curious about his intent, and his idea, and can understand his being vague if he thinks he has a better way. If he publicly discloses an idea, he can lose rights to protect it. So, the question does strongly imply he thinks he may have invented something new, but the search question must be for another purpose?

But, due to the 'mass produced' clause in his question, I don't think he is doing an invention search. It just wouldn't make sense, to limit such a search, in that way.

--

MisterB,

Without tipping your hand as to details:

Do you think you have an invention?
If yes, do you realize, it being mass produced isn't necessary for someone else to own rights to that invention?

Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer! (I do have numerous patents, so am somewhat familiar with the rules, but I am not an expert).

[tklop]

Thank you, JPLabs, for your well-informed follow-up reply!

I had supposed the OP wanted to know "The Best One" -- so he could test his improvements on it--and when he got it perfected, he could sell his idea to that company--to the people that already made the "Best" motor.

But what you said makes good sense: If he were to dig deeper into the "cutting edge" stuff--the still-on-the-drawing-board schematics; and the not-yet mass-produced custom-built one-of-a-kind BLDC motors, he'd be more likely to find the latest advancements..

Thanks again--for your experience and wisdom!

Take care,

Tklop

[JPLabs]

Aha, I hadn't considered the marketing angle. That's very insightful, and makes good sense. Good guess! I hope he tells us, I like this game.