This billion-dollar question bothers any buyer before making a purchase decision for electric scooters.
What would our answer be? Yes, the greater the motor power of a dual-motor scooter, the faster speed you get.
Although more motor power should ideally mean more speed for your dual motor electric scooters, it’s not always the case. Understanding certain related mechanics of your electric scooter would help you better determine when this is true or false.
Some electric scooters use one motor, and others use two motors. Dual motor electric scooters are faster because they generate power for mobility on both rear and front wheels.
An electric scooter’s motor can either be a Brushless or Brushed DC motor. Most modern electric scooters use brushless DC motors. They are better, more efficient, and less noisy. The efficiency of these motors results from the reduced heat, friction, and wear and tear compared to their counterparts (Brushed DC motor).
A high-speed motor such as the dual motor scooter needs efficient brakes. This means dual-motor electric scooters give you far more speed than usually is obtainable from most electric scooters. Usually, these scooters use a brake combo to deliver quick stops.
Just so you know, the brake combo of most dual motor scooters includes an electric brake and a mechanical brake.
Disc brakes (mechanical brakes) are the best brake for your electric scooter. Mechanical brakes are better and more efficient than electrical brakes. And disc brake is the best type of mechanical brake.
Most modern dual electric scooters use a brushless DC motor. But there’s more to these motors, and it does affect the overall performance of your e-scooter and how much speed you get from it.
Every brushless DC motor has a hub motor that is either gearless or geared. Let’s slow down a bit; what’s a hub motor? Hub motors are brushless DC motors confined to the hub of the wheels of your scooter.
A hub motor is a motor directly installed in the wheel of your scooter from where direct power is supplied to cause motion in your wheels. If your scooter doesn’t have a hub motor, it uses a chain system to transmit the energy needed to cause motion in your wheels.
A disadvantage of a chain system (like you see in bikes/bicycles) is that a significant chunk of energy is lost as friction or wear and tear during motion. The machine’s overall efficiency is reduced because of friction, heat, or wear and tear in the motor. With a hub motor, a higher motor efficiency can be achieved.
Don’t know what a motor’s efficiency means? A motor’s efficiency is the ratio of mechanical power delivered in the form of the motor’s output versus the electrical power supplied to the motor. Put simply, output/input * 100%.
A motor’s efficiency can never be 100% because energy is lost in converting electrical energy to mechanical energy in the electric scooter motor. A motor with 90% efficiency uses up 90% of the power supplied to work, and 10% is lost as heat, friction, or wear and tear during conversion.
Hub motors are either geared or gearless. Although they are both brushless DC motors, there’s a significant difference between them.
Geared motors generate motion transmitted to the wheel through a gear system, while gearless systems do not need gears. The con is that energy is lost using the gear system, so the geared hub motors so the gearless motor is more powerful.
Nonetheless, geared motors have certain advantages over gearless motors. Although they are less powerful, the gear system allows them to achieve quicker acceleration and climb hills better. Ultimately you would get an extended range from using a geared system but spend significantly on maintenance.
More power is affected by certain variables. Key among them is the overall mechanics of your electric scooters. If it doesn’t have the best parts, more power would be lost in friction, heat, or wear and tear.
The better you understand the components of your dual motor electric scooter, the more you’d be able to ascertain if more motor power would increase speed significantly. For example, Brushless DC gearless motors are faster than Brushed DC geared motors. The latter is faster than brushed DC motors.
Should you decide to get more motor power for brushed DC motors or Brushless DC geared hub motors, you may get more speed (provided there’s a significant increase) at the expense of slower acceleration and more energy loss from wear and tear during transmission of energy.
Your mileage, as predicted by the manufacturer, is not the reality. No, the manufacturer didn’t lie, but it’s a theoretical mileage. If a motor can never be 100% efficient, many small energy losses can reduce the performance of your e-scooter.
Your scooter may or may not reach its maximum speed. From the speed of a dual-motor scooter, we can calculate its theoretical mileage. Because motor power directly relates to speed, most motors have a top speed range for a given power.
Except otherwise stated by the manufacturer, you can use the motor speed to calculate the expected mileage for your e-scooter. For example, an e-scooter motor moving at 40 Km/hr uses a 350W motor. Another e-scooter moving at 45 Km/hr would be using a 400W motor.
Manufacturers intentionally do not let electric scooters reach maximum speed because of local laws and regulations and damage to the scooter. An electric scooter at its maximum speed may experience more wear and tear and a decline in performance over time.
Other explanations for why your theoretical mileage would not always reflect your actual mileage, in reality, include scooter weight, rider’s weight, average speed, terrain, motor size, battery size, and motor efficiency.
Weight is one of the most insignificant in that it affects how far the scooter can go. Many users don’t realize that more speed means more power consumption from the battery. If your battery isn’t strong enough for the load, you’d have shorter ranges but great acceleration and maximum speed.
Higher motor power means more speed with dual-motor electric scooters. Provided mechanics are right, you can get a significant boost from increasing your motor power.
Check out the mechanics and manufacturer rating to determine how much power would be good for your motor. Alternatively, you can replace the motor of your dual e-scooter to get more power.
Good luck with getting a more powerful motor!