| For as long as I can remember the RC industry | | | | curve of learning how to break-in, tune and tweak |
| has gone back and forth between nitro and | | | | a nitro powered engine. |
| electric motors. Just a few years ago most | | | | Most of the top RC car manufacturers have |
| off-road trucks and buggies were running Nitro | | | | released electric brushless motor versions of their |
| due to the raw power it delivered. | | | | favorite nitro trucks, such as the HPI Savage Flux |
| A recent visit to my local hobby shop this week | | | | HP and the Traxxas E-Maxx Brushless Edition. |
| reveals a totally different picture just a few years | | | | These trucks running electric motors can easily |
| later. The new electric brushless motors coupled | | | | reach speeds of up to 50+ mph straight out of |
| with the powerful LiPo battery backs are killing | | | | the box and even up to 65+ mph with some |
| their Nitro competition. | | | | minor modifications and hop-up parts. |
| Of course die-hard nitro lovers will still probably | | | | Another added benefit to the new brushless |
| stick to nitro for quite some time but the big | | | | systems is that most of them now run |
| difference in power that nitro used to have as an | | | | everything on the truck itself off the battery |
| advantage isn't there anymore. People are | | | | packs, without needed extra batteries for the |
| switching to electric engines because they are | | | | receiver/steering servo, and an extra batter pack |
| quieter, cleaner and require much less | | | | for an engine starter such as is needed with nitro |
| maintenance / tweaking and tuning compared to | | | | engines. You now just need to worry about one |
| nitro engines. | | | | set of batteries for your radio and one set of |
| The brushless electric motors are especially | | | | batteries for your truck. No more having to |
| attractive to those that are new to the RC | | | | worry about having three different sets of |
| hobby, and don't want to go through the learning | | | | batteries charged on top of your nitro fuel. |