Can I run it on a Dewalt / Milwaukee / Makita battery?

Yes. Standard 18-20v tool batteries are approximately 5S lithium, which falls within the supported voltage range. A battery adapter for your specific tool platform is all you need. It's one of the most affordable ways to get rolling before investing in a dedicated hobby pack.

Will running a higher voltage battery make it accelerate faster?

Not necessarily. Higher voltage increases top speed, not acceleration. How hard a car launches is determined by motor torque and how much current your battery can deliver. A 6S pack with strong current output will often feel punchier off the line than a weak 12S pack. Voltage gets you speed. A good battery gets you both.

Why do brushless motors have 3 wires and brushed motors have 2?

Brushed motors are simple. Two wires, positive and negative, and the motor spins. The brushes inside physically contact a spinning commutator to switch the direction of current through the windings automatically. The mechanical contact is what makes it work — and also what wears out over time.

Brushless motors have no brushes and no commutator. Instead they have three separate wire windings arranged inside the motor, each one energized in sequence to create a rotating magnetic field that pulls the rotor around. The three wires each feed one of those windings. The ESC handles the switching electronically, firing each phase in the correct order at the correct time to keep the motor spinning efficiently.

That electronic commutation is why brushless motors need an ESC — the controller is doing the job the brushes used to do, just without any physical contact, which means no wear, no arcing, and significantly higher efficiency.

The tradeoff is complexity. Two wires and a battery will spin a brushed motor. A brushless motor needs a controller that knows what it's doing. That's exactly what the pre-configured VESC in every OEMods kit provides.

What does 4S-12S mean?

Battery packs for these kits are rated in "S" ; it just describes how much voltage the pack delivers. More voltage means more speed. The kit supports a wide range, so you can start mild and go as wild as you want.

• 4S — ~14.8v — Entry level RC packs
• 5S — ~18.5v — Milwaukee M18 / Dewalt 20v tool batteries
• 6S — ~22.2v — Most popular starting point
• 8S — ~29.6v — Mid range hobby packs
• 10S — ~37v — Sweet spot for performance builds
• 12S — ~44.4v — Maximum recommended — full send

48v packs are also compatible ; the Flipsky 75100 VESC handles up to 84v. However, you will need to reduce your ERPM limit in VESC Tool to avoid over-revving the motors at higher voltage. Contact us before running 48v and we'll walk you through the adjustment.

What is a VESC and why does it matter?

VESC stands for Vedder Electronic Speed Controller, named after Benjamin Vedder, the engineer who designed it and released the firmware as open source. That open source part is what makes it different from every other ESC on the market.

A generic ESC is a black box. It does what it does, you get no visibility into what's happening internally, and your tuning options are usually limited to a handful of presets via a programming card or a basic app. If it doesn't work the way you want, you're stuck.

The VESC is the opposite. Every parameter is accessible and adjustable . Current limits, voltage cutoffs, throttle curves, ERPM limits, motor timing, braking behavior, temperature thresholds. You can data log in real time, monitor motor temperature, battery voltage, and current draw live from your phone. If something goes wrong the VESC tells you exactly what happened and why.

For OEMods kits this matters because every unit ships pre-configured and tested. The settings are already dialed in for your motor and voltage range. You don't need to touch anything to get up and running. But if you want to adjust speed limits for a younger kid, tighten the throttle curve, or push the limits on a bigger battery ; all of it is accessible through the free VESC Tool app on your phone.or laptop.

It is a significantly more capable piece of hardware than anything you will find in a stock ride-on vehicle, or in most budget conversion kits. That capability is a core part of what makes the OEMods drivetrain perform the way it does.

What is KV and how does it affect speed?

KV is a motor rating that describes how many RPM the motor spins per volt of input. It has nothing to do with kilovolts. It is just the unit used to describe motor speed relative to voltage.

The formula is simple:

KV x Voltage = RPM (no load)

So a 140KV motor on a 6S pack (~22v) spins at roughly 3,080 RPM at the shaft before load is applied.

Lower KV means more torque and less top speed.

Higher KV means less torque and more top speed.

This is why the 9-5 kit uses a 140KV motor and the Street/Strip kit steps down to 90KV. As voltage increases across kit tiers, KV decreases intentionally, keeping top speed in a reasonable range while dramatically increasing torque and pulling power. A lower KV motor on higher voltage will push a heavier load, accelerate harder, and run cooler under stress than a high KV motor screaming at its limits.

For reference:

9-5 Kit: 140KV on up to 12S, tuned for speed with solid torque

Street/Strip Kit: 90KV on up to 12S, more torque, harder launch, higher sustained load capacity

Think of KV like the gear ratio on a transmission. High KV is a tall gear, fast but you lose pulling power. Low KV is a short gear, slower top end but it will pull stumps.