Best motor + motor controller combo in 2024

[braincore]

While swapping the battery on a cheap Chinese e-scooter for fun with a custom-built Panasonic based one (thanks to all the advice here), I started thinking about vehicle form factors that haven't been tried yet (probably b/c they're bad ideas...). One that's crossed my mind is a multi-passenger two-wheeled carriage style vehicle. A silly looking cross between an old style horse-drawn carriage and a hoverboard using the same IMU auto-balancing techniques.

With that idea in mind, I've been musing about the motor/motor-controller I'd need for such a setup. Given that I'm new to all of this, I thought I'd ask what the 2024 recommendations for a motor + motor controller are. Basic requirements:

- 20S voltage (84V) -- or something around there since I've just built this battery pack.
- 3kw-5kw+ motor -- or what ya'll think would be necessary.
- Regenerative breaking
- Cheaper is better

Some questions:
- What are the important features in a motor controller? e.g. FOC, encoder vs. hall, ...
- What motor controllers have great telemetry for a microcontroller to read?
- Having built a quadcopter, is there any difference between an ESC and a motor controller for BLDCs?
- Is there a hub motor + controller that's ready to go for my use case?
- What would be the advantages of a mid-drive?

This is all for fun to motivate my own learning so please don't take the idea too seriously.

 

[offGridDownUnder]

multi-passenger two-wheeled carriage style vehicle. A silly looking cross between an old style horse-drawn carriage and a hoverboard using the same IMU auto-balancing techniques.

Do all the passengers stand all the time? Do they all synchronize their motions?

Do some sit? Do some stand? Do they change from one to the other? Same question about synchronizing their motions?

I can actually imagine a machine that reacts quickly and correctly enough to maintain balance even when the passengers are not anesthetized, but I will bet long odds this will be a machine that makes people motion sick - a vomit buggy.

 

[braincore]

The two passengers sit in the carriage as they would in a car (slightly leaning back in their seat). So I think your point is: standing on a segway isn't vomit inducing because the person subconsciously makes micro corrections to their orientation. However, when sitting, a person isn't able to do that and it's likely that even a well-executed balancing algorithm isn't sufficiently stable.

That's a good point.

I've built the control algorithm for a quadcopter from scratch before, but the power to weight ratio makes attitude adjustments easy. This won't be the case in a two-wheeler carrying a few hundred pounds of people. The balancing response will be rather delayed.

 

[braincore]

I think I'm getting closer to narrowing it down. Does anyone have experience with:

MakerX Go-FOC D100S

It's fairly new. Supports two motors. 100A each (200A max). 21S max which gives my 20S some buffer. VESC which apparently has lots of customizability.