[TFortunato]

Yeah, brushless is definitely the way to go for efficiency, and good smooth motion. Stepper for an e-bike or washing machine (Not a BLDC either, but...) would be nuts, and in general steppers are really for cheap semi-decent control, not for anything where precision is really needed.

[TaylorAlexander]

My colleague had a motor from a newer washing machine out on his desk, and it did appear to be a BLDC. Alternating magnets with three phases of coils as you'd expect. Driven from rectified 120V AC!

[TFortunato]

Very cool! So I should perhaps qualify my comment to say that some newer appliances may be moving that way. (I've done work on motor drives for consumer electronics, robots and some industrial devices in the semiconductor world...no appliances, but it's cool to hear some of them are going that way!)