An electric motor has a stator and a rotor. The stator has a housing with inlets and outlets. The rotor has a shaft, a rotor core and a commutator. A fan is fixed to the rotor. An end cap is fitted to the housing to close a first end of the housing and support electrical components, including brush gear. The brush gear includes two brush assemblies, each comprising a brush for making sliding electrical contact with the commutator and a brush guidance mechanism for resiliently urging the brush into contact with the commutator. The brush assemblies are accommodated in compartments of the end cap. Each compartment has vents on an axially facing side thereof and openings in a transverse wall thereof. An air guide guides a part of the airflow generated by the fan exiting from at least one of the outlets of the housing to flow into the compartments via the openings and exit the compartments via the vents to cool the brushes.