A permanent magnet electric motor includes a rotor and a stator magnetically coupled to the rotor. The rotor includes a shaft, a rotor core fixed to the shaft and having n teeth, n being an integer, a commutator fixed to the shaft adjacent the rotor core and having m segments, m being an even number less than n. Rotor windings are wound about the teeth and connected to the segments. The stator includes a plurality of permanent magnets surrounding the rotor core and brushes in sliding electrical contact with the commutator.