How Many Types of Motors We Got In the Market?
The motor is one of the main components of the electric skateboard, which decides how fast you can go and how steep a hill you can climb. What kind of motor you had chosen decided the performance. There are 4 types of motors in the e-skateboard market: hub motor, belt drive, direct drive, and gear drive. Let's get there and see what makes the difference.
Hub Motor
A hub motor drive is a great option for someone who wants to start E-skateboard with a budget. When you pull the throttle, the hub will start to spinning, and so goes the wheel. The hub motor is an individual motor that doesn't need any other part to move. The speed is not adjustable by swapping the configuration. And the wheel option becomes no option since the PU sleeve is the only wheel supported to mount. Nowadays, the cloud sleeves and rubber sleeves, and new sleeves keep debuting. The wheel of the hub motor becomes diverse now. If your battery dies on the trail, the hub motor allows you to kick-push to home, but other motors won't. The regenerative feature applied on the electric skateboard hub motor drive even lets you recharge the battery by kick-push way.
| Pros | Cons |
| Good free-rolling | Weaker torque(except premium hubs) |
| Easier to install | Sacrifies use of longboard wheels |
| Silent | Higher failure rate |
| Stealthy look |
Belt Drive
The belt drive motor is mounted with a drive pulley connected with the wheel pulley mounted on the wheel by a belt. The gear ratio for belt drive is optional, with high torque and speed. Help you to conquer multiple road terrain. You can swap the tension belt to a chain to boost durability. The best advantage of the belt drive is the wheel configuration and ratio are all adjustable and customizable, which means that you can swap your wheel to an all-terrain, street wheel, or any other wheel you fit a pulley on. You can mount any truck you wish to if the size matches.
| Pros | Cons |
| Higher Torque | Poor free-rolling |
| 4 full longboard wheels | Maintenance |
| Customizable | Noise |
| Switchable wheels |
Direct Drive
If you're looking for a motor that's easy to use, quick to accelerate, and well-balanced in its power control, then the direct drive is the perfect choice for you. These motors tend to dissipate heat quickly, so running at higher speeds for longer periods makes them ideal for uphill racing. The direct drive offers you precise power control, and insane acceleration, you can put on all the skateboard wheels if the adapter fits on, it's perfectly simple to use without any mechanical adjustment.
There are no perfect motors for all situations, also does the direct drive. Direct drive motors are big (relative to other types of electric motors). Their size puts them real low to the ground and subject to damage from debris like rocks or glass. Their cans aren't bulletproof either—even a small rock can do damage! Riders using pneumatic wheels on street and off-road would benefit greatly from the direct drive because they won't have to worry about changing their wheels out every time they hit some bad pavement or gravel road.
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent Free-rolling | Heavy |
| 4 full longboard wheels | Availability |
| Silent | Bulky, low ground clearance |
| Switchable wheels |
Gear Drive
To innovate the new generation of the motor drive, with less power wasted, aim to cut the malfunction rate to half, the gear driver has popped into the market. With a belt drive, you have to counteract the belt's friction and the tension applied to the belt before the board can get rolling. You had lost efficiency to get it to move. Since it takes more force, and the mile range got a direct hit. But what will happen if you have a gear drive? The simp gear attached to the motor is enmeshed, acting against another gear, without power wasted on tension. There's even less friction if the proper lubrication is applied. The less power needed to get it rolling, the more battery saved for a longer range.
The structure of the gear drive is so simple, due to the simple structure there is very little chance to go wrong if the material used for the gear has good quality and wear resistance... Gear Drives are sealed systems, so dirt and grit are kept out to minimize wear and increase reliability.
But, there is no best motor, the drawback of the gear drive is the noise which can be deafening for the most sensitive (for the rest of us it’s just annoying).
| Pros | Cons |
| Excellent Free-rolling | Durability in question |
| 4 full longboard wheels | High pitch noise |
| Switchable wheels | Bulky, low ground clearance |
| Expensive, difficult to maintain |
Conclusion
We can't say which motor is the best. The Hub motor is easy to install, the only thing we need to do is change the PU sleeve if the outer sleeve cracks, but it's fixed current we can't make it go faster. Fit the newbie. The wheel and components can be changed by your flavor if you had a belt drive. Direct drive lets you taste the crazy speed and torque like belt drive, but no power is wasted on the belt tension, the wheel is still swappable. Gear drive with grease can be smooth like a belt drive and high react speed like a hub motor with less malfunction due to the alloy gear. Just configure your motor according to your need.
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