In this paper, doubly salient brushless DC machines (DS-BLDCM) with different rotor pole arcs are compared in terms of their generating and motoring operation. For generating operation, comparison of output power, output voltage and magnetic flux distribution with different rotor pole arcs are obtained by finite element analysis (FEA). For motoring operation, comparison of output torque, torque ripple and efficiency based on basic control scheme are obtained. The analysis results indicate that when the rotor pole arc is appropriately increased, the performance of DS-BLDCM will be improved. The design of the rotor pole arc of DSEM should be distinct according to different operation states.