Tradrack: PETG instead of ABS?

I know the Tradrack is recommended to be printed in ABS, but I have exactly zero desire to get geared up for ABS and deal with the fumes. I assume the main reason for ABS is the temperature resistance.

How hot do the stepper motors really get? They shouldn't be driven that hard, honestly. One of them moves extremely infrequently and for a small number of revs, and the other shouldn't move that fast or with any real big changes in speed or direction (assuming a filament buffer is in place to handle retractions).

Can somebody chime in and explain why ABS is the spec?

TIA!