Skateboarding has given way to some of the best electric skateboards and their bombastic motors. But, not everyone opts for the same type of motor features. It is, therefore, best to explore the pros and cons of the two most reliable Belt Drive vs. the Hub Motor Electric Skateboard.
Both the hub and the Belt drive electric skateboards are best. The belt drive provides a boost of acceleration and more torque and also has a capable braking system. The wheels of the belt motor are detachable and ensure proper heat management. The hub drive has freewheels and is light weighted. It provides a smoother, silent, and maintenance-free ride.
You not only need to discover the working mechanism of both of the boards, but the advantages and the disadvantages of the belt drive and the hub drive are also suitable for you, worth knowing.
These aspects will help you reveal the superiority of one Drive over another. Also, making you choose the best board from both types.
Table of Contents
How Does belt Motor Work?
Electric skateboards comprise a gear system that acts as a propeller. Also, the wheels support a motor over a pulley. On pressing the button on the remote control to accelerate, the power gets transferred from the battery to the motors.
An electronic speed controller is used to give the signal to the motor to spin the wheel. Backfire Zealot and Lacroix are the two examples of skateboards using belt motors technology.
Some of the favorable advantages of belt motors technology are as follows:
Produce More Torque
A belt motor has the system technology; the accessibility to more gears means more multiplication in torque. It allows changing the torque as the gear changes.
Wheel Options
The motors connect the wheels in the belt motor system with a belt and a pulley; if you want to change the wheels due to any reason, then it will be a much easier process than a hub motor drive.
Better Heat Management
A belt drive skateboard has a motor attached to its tires which creates an opportunity for the air to pass by the system, making a path for the heat to disperse much more efficiently than the hub drive motors.
Belt Motors might indicate the following drawbacks:
- If the battery dies, it would be tough to use it manually.
- It requires more maintenance as compared to the hub drive.
- The belt drive works with more components, so it comes with more noise and vibration.
How Does Hub Motor Work?
Hub motors are the upgraded version of the electric skateboards, which work differently than the belt motors. In hub motors, all the components are fitted into the hub and connected to a wheel. When the motor rotates, the whole assembly of the wheel forcibly spins.
Here the motor compelled the entire wheel to move to produce a 1:1 spin, i.e., one spin of the motor = one spin of the wheel. Meepo V3 and Ranger X2 are the best examples of skateboards equipped with hub motors.
The hub motors display the beneficial aspects as follows:
High speed
There is no gear system in these skateboards, but these are designed to deliver as much output as they can. Hub motors provide a much higher top speed as compared to belt motors.
Smooth and silent
Hub motors are concealed within a Urethane rubber and do not have any gear mechanism to make extra noise to produce less to no sound so that you can cruise silently anywhere in the town.
Less Maintenance
Unlike the belt motor drives, there is no gear system, no chains, no belts to be taken care of, but it comprises only two parts that do not need maintenance again and again, but maintaining them every once in a while would do the job.
Freewheels
There are no extra belts or chains to stop the wheel’s motion when the battery goes down, but the hub and the wheels are connected not to have much friction, which allows the wheel to move comparatively free as the belt drives.
Lightweight
These skateboards are comparatively lightweight as they only have two major components, while the belt drive has many parts to add more weight.
Along with the advantages, the hub motors also have some disadvantages:
- They produce less torque as there is no gear system to multiply it.
- Wheels are difficult to replace if needed.
- They don’t have a proper ventilation system which means a poor heat dissipation system.
A Comparison of Belt Motors vs. Hub Motors based on Standard Aspects
Here are some of the aspects to compare both the skateboard types that might be helpful for you to decide what you should prefer:
Acceleration
The belt drive skateboards have much better acceleration as they have a gear system installed in them to multiply the torque! But what if you may not want to have torque acceleration but want to have smooth and steady acceleration?
Then it would help if you went for the Hub drive skateboards as they provide you with smooth acceleration, unlike the belt drive’s jerky acceleration.
Braking
The braking in both types will be excellent, especially if you are in sports mode. The belt drive provides you with sudden stopping power as the gear system will also convert its energy to stop the wheels and brakes, but this sudden stopping power might be jerky.
While on the other hand, the hub drive board has a smooth recession as the hub helps the wheels to stop. Sometimes you need to stop if something comes across your path instantly; here, the belt drive will be the best savior, while it will take much more time to stop the hub drive board.
Hill climbing
If you live in a hilly place with elevations and depressions, the belt drive will be the best option for you as they provide much more torque than the hub drive. But if you do not prefer the hillside boarding, you can go for the hub drive electric skateboard.
Riding Comfort and Sound
Both of the machines are elegantly comfortable. But the hub drive is more comfortable as it is not jerky with its acceleration and deceleration; also, it is smooth while breaking.
While on the other hand, the belt drive skateboards are jerkier as they have much more torque and stopping power to deal with, but if you can manage to master the controls, you can always play good with them.
Maintenance
When it comes to machines, they always perform well; the same goes for electric skateboards. The belt motors have more components in their working mechanism and also require more maintenance and the hub motors only have two parts that only need zero to less maintenance.
Efficiency
If the hub board is not under-powered and equips a burst of power, they become more efficient than the belt motors, as they do not dissipate the energy, and all of their power is transferred directly to the wheel from the motor. While in the belt motors, the power dissipation is more.
Conclusion
The belt drive and the hub drive both have to offer unique features. The belt drive provides more torque, more acceleration, and efficient stopping power, but they need more maintenance, and they also are a bit jerky and nosey.
While on the other hand, electrical skateboards based on the hub drive are more smooth, more comfortable, and silent. Also, they need a little maintenance, but they produce less torque, and they also do not have a sound braking system.
Depending upon the features and your demands, you can choose either belt motor vs. hub motor.
