🔋 Brushless
A motor with no physical brushes — more efficient, powerful and longer-lasting than brushed.
Comes in sensored and sensorless types; needs a matching brushless ESC.
What it actually does
A brushless motor has no physical brushes rubbing on a commutator — the ESC electronically switches the coils instead. That removes the main wear part and the main source of friction, so brushless systems run cooler, last far longer and deliver noticeably more power than the brushed motors they replaced.
In practice
Because there are no brushes to wear out, maintenance is largely keeping the motor clean and the bearings healthy. Brushless motors come in sensored and sensorless forms, which changes how smoothly they start from a standstill.
Worth knowing
Brushless power is easy to over-gear. The motor will happily accept more than the drivetrain can survive, so step gearing up gradually and check temperatures rather than jumping several teeth at once.