Although BLDC motor  s are practically identical to permanent magnet AC motors, the controller implementation is what makes them DC. While AC motors feed sinusoidal current simultaneously to each of the legs (with an equal phase distribution), DC controllers only approximate this by feeding full positive and negative current to two of the legs at a time. The major advantage of this is that both the logic controllers and battery power sources operate on DC, such as in computers and electric cars.

Vector drives are DC controllers that take the extra step of converting back to AC for the motor. The DC-to-AC conversion circuitry is usually expensive and less efficient, but they have the advantage of being able to run smoothly at very low speeds or completely stop in a position not directly aligned with a pole. Motors used with a vector drive are typically called AC motors.