An energy management system with an electronic gearshift and regenerative braking is presented to improve the gross efficiency and driving range of an electric scooter, driven directly by a four-phase axial-flux DC brushless wheel motor. The integration of stator windings. batteries, ultracapacitors, and a digital controller constitutes an energy management system, which features smooth electronic gear shifting and regenerative braking. The gross efficiency of the experimental scooter is improved in the drivable range by 20% with respect to that without regenerative braking. The battery-to-wheel efficiency was also above 70% for both low- and high-speed gears. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.