Spotlight on the Mellow In-Wheel Motor

PRODUCT

24 January 2017
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The motor is where the magic happens: electricity transforming into motion. Precise build and quality materials maximize performance, while intensive digital modeling and prototyping optimize efficiency. Mellow’s motors, designed with Swiss specialist SmartDrives, were custom-built for an Endless Ride. Our one-of-a-kind sensorless single-tooth design uses less battery power, shrugs off hard shocks and rises above other in-wheel motors thanks to its high, constant torque and cool running.

Better, Stronger, Torquier
When development follows vision, great things happen. Over the past year, we’ve gone beyond Kickstarter specifications, doubling power on acceleration and adding shock and vibration proofing into the original motor design.

Our new stronger arc magnets will give unbridled acceleration to speed demons in Pro mode, with updated performances that will now compete with the market’s best belt-driven boards. Hours of tuning has made it possible for all Mellowers, not just the feather weights, to hit stated max speeds still at high torque and even maintain higher speeds at lower battery levels (“dynamic field weakening”).
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Never fear: for test riders who were blown away by the powerful kick of our prototypes, we’ve invested months into shaping Rookie and Eco modes for safe, easy learning and far ranging relaxing cruising.

Stay Cool, Keep Riding
Endless Riders have more fun because they don’t have to worry about overheating plaguing typical mass produced motors. Thick low-resistance copper windings, high temperature magnets and enhanced current management of the battery, circuits and motors eliminate heat-related failure, ensuring that being Mellow really means staying cool.

Since having your board shut down or kick you into bunny mode just when you are getting warmed up is a huge buzzkill, we saved those only as a last line of protection. Before that would happen, intelligent derating keeps a watchful eye on temp, charge and current, to dynamically calculate and deliver the most power possible so you can continue to shred.

Less is More
Strangely enough, increasing motor lifespan meant removing things. Mellow’s motors are “sensorless” and don’t contain fragile silicon chips or wires that can fail or drift, hurting efficiency or even taking the whole motor down with it (i.e. single point of failure). Although riders might see a microsecond twitch during startup, benefits include longer motor life, lower replacement cost, overall better efficiency and better performance at higher speeds. Sensorless running is made possible thanks to a name brand microprocessor (Texas Instruments Piccolo) and many, many hours of development.

One more thing missing: noise. While other boards advertise as making less noise than the road, our use of Field Oriented Control (FOC) means that we don’t even need a road to show how quiet the Mellow Drive is. We didn’t film someone riding in a public library, but here’s the "Sounds of Performance" video again in case you missed it:


Powerful & Shreddable
Good things come in small packages…and are lighter too. Mellow’s motors are compact, light and calibrated to spin freely so they can be skated unpowered with ease. The external 608 skate bearing is user changeable and the entire assembly is water-resistant. So if you get caught in the rain or out of battery, pushing home is not a problem.



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