What would happen if I changed the motors? {Ultimate Evolve GT}

I’ve started a few topics and discussed with a few people over at the Evolve forums but I need to know what would happen if I replaced the current 140Kv Evolve motors with 200Kv ones using the same body and connectors. Would it work fine, break the ESC/motors, or have the motors run at a lower RPM?

I’ve done some research along with gaining information after starting a few topics etc. and here is the final build that I wanted to do with the board:

200Kv Motors: $100 Si3N4 Bearings for Motors: $50 38T Gears: $100 Abec 11 97mm Wheels: $100 10s4p VTC6 Battery: $350

Assuming everything works according to plan, the remote would still show speed correctly as it measures it based on RPM. There would be no noticeable voltage sag and the it will have nice speed boost to 32 mph (51 km/h). Basically a perfect electric skateboard.

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Should work fine… your top speed will be less but you can compensate with gearing

Wait, wouldn’t top speed be more considering I’m going from 140Kv to 200Kv?

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Lol yea sorry read that wrong mate u are correct

You would need to drop the gearing a little to keep the torque

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I was wondering how it would affect torque though. Would I lose torque and braking power because of it?

You will loose torque and that could be bad for the motors if your going off road

Getting to top speed or starting from a stop I think you will notice voltage sag because you are going to pull more amps in the beginning and everytime you accelerate in the powerband. More kv=Less torque, but more top end.

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There is a method to their madness I suppose

I’m trying to mitigate that by using VTC6 cells - those offer a really high discharge rate. The biggest thing I was worried about was breaking - how would it affect it?

Honestly I don’t think it will hurt your brakes that much.

seems like a lot of mods for commercial board. it really comes down to how smart/dumb the esc is. if its simple like a rc esc it should keep going fine with the changes. but if its configured for the stock motors or has top speed limiting you might just lose torque and efficiency for nothing…

since you’re going with abecs I don’t see why you wouldn’t go full custom?

I got the Evolve GT as a gift - sort of. I spent a lot of my money but my parents helped - fairly close in age to the youngest eSk8 builder on the forum.

My biggest reason is aesthetics. I really like how the integrated enclosure keeps the board slim and sleek looking. Also, going full custom means I have to start over and since anything else I spend my money on I have to earn 100% of, it really would just be too expensive. I’m not 100% sure how the ESC works - I’ll have to contact the Evolve team.

Yeah I would presume it all comes down to the ESC. If you were willing to pay extra I suppose you could get a couple VESCs though.

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Wouldn’t that mean I can no longer use the existing Evolve remote? I really like the remote and the statistics it gives me (voltage, motor rpm, speed). I’ve gotten used to the sensitivity as well.

In a nut shell

Yep

even if it does work, the power meter may be off and i’ve heard it wasn’t very reliable to begin with…

with the cost of those “upgrades” you are very close to the cost of a custom single drive that would smoke any evolve anyways!

$100 for drive gears alone…they’re just flywheels rights?

I can give you an Arduino module that will fake out evolve’s ESC UART and Sw connectors, that would let you keep the evolve controller and use with any pack - it would be stupid and reply that your battery was always at 90% SOC no matter its voltage or SOC (I could add smart interface but not freely)…

If your interested still let me know and I will open source the code I’ve got working now (I’m using to run a tiny lipo 10S pack with the evolve controller, less sag and range but also less weight by far).

Regards, Mike

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Wait… you have something that can circumvent the evolve proprietary BMS? How has nobody heard of this?

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By all means send me that code dude. I’d love to be able to make a custom battery and have the crap one as a spare.

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IDK, but i need this NOW!

please Mike :smiley: