In this setup, the energy and information flows are entirely dissipated by the shuttling of the macrocycle as T Σmech . If the mechanical steps of the motor were to work against a force (for example if a load were attached to the macrocycle), T Σmech would incorporate a negative work term in addition to RT İ + Ė, which could serve to define the efficiency of the energy and information flows being converted into output work, instead of just being dissipated. The energy and information flows would thus constitute the maximum work output that can be delivered by the motor. A traditional thermodynamic analysis of such a motor would exclusively focus on the efficiency with which the input free energy supplied by the fuel-to-waste chemical potential gradient is converted into output work, thus over-estimating the maximum work output as the overall free energy input I (µ F -µ W ). The present approach refines this analysis by showing how the input-to-output transduction is mediated by the free energy transfer within the motor, whose efficiency η (equation ( )) limits the maximum work output potentially deliverable by the motor. It also formally defines a thermodynamic efficiency that can be applied to motors while they perform no appreciable output work, as is the case for most of the synthetic molecular motors made to date, and can serve to compare the efficiencies of their operation.