How steep a hill will the Phoenix Brute pull?

Note that I'm not an owner... yet? I'm actually looking into one myself. What I can tell you from my reading is that the answer is not easy to pin down as there are a lot of factors to consider. The main inputs, however, seem to be just how much power you are able to put into it (voltage), the size of the wheel it is mounted on (thus the effective torque you are applying/mechanical advantage), and total weight it is being forced to pull up the hill.

I've seen a lot of posts that list the weight of various bikes and their speed - generally flat... but not a whole lot showing the question you are asking (and that I have wondered too) which is the uphill pull ability. The other thing that seems absent in a lot of posts is just how much folks are putting on the frame when they ride - including their own weight. I see total bike weight and the occasional comment about individual weight, but when comparing things I'd like to see total weight. Then again - on flat speed tests (unless acceleration is the question) it probably doesn't matter that much.

Hope you find your answer - if you do find it elsewhere, please do share it here as well.

Even 12% is not that steep of a hill for the more powerful hub motors. My 8 pound Geared hub Motor from EV tech gets me up 12% grades pretty easy. When you get to 20% plus long grades, that is where you start to have problems.

Having melted the guts out of a BD36 motor this summer climbing a pretty good hill, my question is how far at 12% and how hot. Take that Brute to 72v and it will go up the hill. I'm sure the folks out there will agree with that! But if the hills are really long or it's really hot where you live, then you could end up like me, getting up the hill fine, but for just so many trips. My run was one hour, all uphill in 100-105 weather. 400 miles and the motor was done. Most of the climb was on one mile of 10%, but the motor never cooled off after that climb, and would cook for six more miles to home.

Just as a reference, heres how a BD36 with a ping 36v climbs a hill.

Rider, 180

Bike 75

Speed up a 8% one mile grade.

18mph at first,
15 mph for most of it,
near the top 13-14 mph.

This includes all the peadling I have got. One day, feeling good, I topped the hill at 15mph. As the motor would heat up, resistance increased and the speed and power would drop. After the hill, with a smokin hot motor, top speed on the flat was at least 5 mph less than usual.

The $700 price u mentioned is for 36V. That wont cut it. You need 48V
12% is very steep. you'll run out of battery before u reach the top probably.
the 5 series motor line really sucks up the amps vs the red hornet hub motor...u ever check that out ?
you better be using lithium

If you get the 5-series Phoenix, thats about as steep a hill-puller as you can get. If you're not happy with that, I'm not sure what would pull better.

I'm a fan of the Cyclone system, where a pedal-axle (bottom bracket/BB) motor uses the rear gears to dramatically increase hill-climbing, but when you downshift, you will go slower as a trade-off.

If you're set on getting a hub-motor, and you're very concerned the 5-series won't be quite enough (even at 48-volts) you could get one with a smaller wheel, like a 24-inch instead of 26" to help with hills.

I "think" (correct me if I'm wrong) that road per-cent is elevation compared to length traveled. A 6% grade means the road rises 6-feet for every 100 feet traveled. A 45-degree rise would then be a 100% grade?

Using a large cardboard protractor half-circle marked with 180 degrees and a string with a weight on the end, it would be easy to see the number of degrees. This would help with more accurate reporting, instead of "I have the hub-master 3000, and it did good on a really steep hill"