Apparatus and methods are provided for operating an electric motor, comprising selectively energising the coils of a stator having a plurality of stator teeth, each stator tooth having a said coil mounted thereon. The stator coils of a subset of the stator teeth are energised during a given time period to attract a corresponding rotor tooth into alignment with each of the stator teeth in the subset over the given time period. The stator coil of at least one stator tooth in the subset is energised during a portion of the given time period before the at least one stator tooth overlaps the corresponding rotor tooth.