The never-ending rear hub vs. mid drive up hills question

[AHicks]

The Grin bafang wheelbarrow motor has super low gearing:



(It is composed of a small bafang geared hub motor, the G310/311 with 11:1 gear reduction, coupled to an additional planetary gear reduction of almost 3:1 and thus providing a total gear reduction of around 30:1)

Regarding the bold, something you might want to keep in the back of your mind here, is if we are talking bicycle, you need to maintain a minimum speed that will allow you to keep your balance.

 

[ebike4healthandfitness]

Regarding the bold, something you might want to keep in the back of your mind here, is if we are talking bicycle, you need to maintain a minimum speed that will allow you to keep your balance.

At 36v, it would be able achieve about 10 mph if a 28" tire were able to be mounted. That is fast enough for almost anyone to maintain balance.

48v or faster and Justin says the magnets can come off. An IPM magnet arrangement would, of course, solve this problem while also extending the RPM range of the motor.

Still I could see this being potentially very useful even at just 36v for when a person just needs assist up steep hills. The clutch (on the stock version of this motor, which is SPM) would have to be unlocked though. An IPM version of the same motor could very likely get by with the locked clutch due to the extended operating range of the motor. This would make for some very efficient Regen when operating at slow speed (e.g. going down steep hills) due to the high efficiency of the motor over a broad speed range.