Crank Drive Motors
Crank drive motors were the first advanced electric bike motors, and were developed in Japan in the early 1990s by Panasonic and Yamaha. As the name clearly indicates, they are situated in the crank (the crank set being the round thing that cleverly converts the energy from your legs into energy that moves the chain and therefore moves the bike). These motors drive additional power (over and above your own leg power) through the rear gear system.
Personally I have experienced how amazingly effective this set up is with my crank drive Panasonic motor in a BH Emotion Race Bike. The motor is a modest 250 W, the bike only has seven gears, and the bike fully loaded with motor and battery weighs in at just 34 pounds. Yet I get up massive hills on this bike without breaking a sweat. And speed! I have to control myself not to go too fast at times, because I don’t want to endanger myself and others. Read the full review here.
Related Post: Hub Motor vs Crank Drive Motor – Which is Better for an Electric Bike?
I found an even more impressive combination of gears and electric power in my Haibike Xduro Trekking Pro, which has 27 gears combined with a 350 W crankdrive motor, and gets me up incredibly long, steep hills. Read the full review of my Haibike Xduro Trekking Pro here.
Crank drive motors can be adjusted to suit different environments, and are widely thought to be the best motors because they allow you to use the bike gears to get up hills, or to haul heavy loads. The general wisdom is that if you know you are going to have to climb very steep hills (more than 17%), you are better off with a crank drive motor.
This has certainly been our experience with my wife’s new Cube Elly Ride 400 Hybrid ebike. The motor is just 250 W, but because it is a crank-drive motor, it works synergistically with the 10 Shimano Deore gears, so that she is able to get up the huge hills in our neighborhood.
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Hub Motors for Ebikes
As the early crank drive motors were so expensive, hub motors were developed as a cheaper alternative. These motors, again as the name indicates, are mounted in the hub (the center part) of the wheel, usually the rear wheel. These are now the most common motors.They basically have only one gear, so although some of them are very powerful, they are not ideal for hilly areas. If you live in a flat city, these are just fine.
That said, many of the large hub drive motors have amazing hill capacity.
