a while back Paul answered that question on video .... he said that their first effort was to find a motor already in production, what would meet EM's needs, at the price point EM needed, that the manufacture could (or was willing to) produce in the numbers needed .... he said once it was determined there wasn't one, they had to commit to designing/building their own .... not being there to witness the process and without having any proof to the contrary, I can only believe what he says .... granted, some tend to prefer to make their own assessments without having access to the facts of the process .... when/if EM goes into production, none of this will matter