250 Watt Rear Wheel Electric Bike Kit Review

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Bated from speed, ability is probably the hottest topic — and selling point — in the electric wheel world.

Conventional wisdom would say that when it comes to power, more wattage is amend. But if that'south the case, why practice and so many high-end due east-bikes come with what seem like smaller motors — and is 250W enough power for an electric bike?

At that place'due south a few factors that dictate how much wattage an e-bicycle needs, ranging from the type of motor being used to how the east-wheel was designed. It'due south also helpful to understand what manufacturers are describing when they talk well-nigh motor wattage, and how U.S. law dictates how powerful an e-bike can exist. This post volition dive into those details and more.

The small just mighty front hub motor on a GoCycle G4i+, arguably one of the peppiest, torquiest and near compact 500W hub motors we've tested.

Only here's a short answer that I'm certain volition ruffle some feathers: Yes, nosotros've institute that 250W is ofttimes plenty powerful for many e-bikes. There'southward some caveats to that statement, but by and big a 250W motor is enough to give a rider'south pedaling a nice assist. Remember, an east-bike is still a bicycle — by definition at to the lowest degree a little concrete effort is required.

E-bike motor sizes: 250W to 750W

An e-bicycle motor's power is measured in wattage, and in the U.S. motors typically range between 250W to 750W.

Y'all can definitely find e-bikes with smaller and larger motors, but that range is what we typically see most often at Electrical Bicycle Report. Motor sizes typically get larger or smaller in multiples of 50W — 250W, 300W, 350W, 500W and 750W are examples of motor sizes we encounter oft.

A Bafang Ultra mid-drive motor on a QuietKat JEEP all-terrain electric fatty bike. One of the well-nigh powerful mid-bulldoze motors on the marketplace, the Ultra can produce 1,000W of nominal power, which is over the street legal limit. At that power level, this bike is designed for private land or OHV areas.

Just while there's no limit to how modest yous can make a motor, U.Southward. law does dictate how large an e-bike motor tin can be. In addition to having pedals and certain speed restrictions, e-bikes in the U.S. are express to a nominal max motor output of 750W. Motors are allowed to momentarily produce more ability than this, a metric chosen a motor'due south max output, but we'll dive deeper into the divergence between a motor's max and nominal wattage lower in the folio.

Read more: Do you need a license to ride an electrical bicycle?

Information technology is very easy to find e-bikes that become well over the legal 750W limit, simply those bikes do mistiness the line betwixt electric bicycles and mopeds. In Electrical Wheel Report'south stance, those bikes should be regarded, ridden and registered similarly to electrical motorcycles. There are as well e-bikes designed to be used on private land or OHV areas, but they do not run across the definition of a street legal e-cycle.

When is 250W enough? Mid-drive vs. hub motors and nominal vs. max power

Power is all the rage right now, especially if you're shopping for a more affordable due east-bike.

But higher wattage does not always equate to a quicker e-bike. In fact, some of the most powerful feeling due east-bikes I've tested have had 250W motors. It's all about how that ability is applied to the basis.

In that location are two types of motors primarily found on e-bikes: Hub bulldoze motors that are laced into the rear or forepart bike and mid-drive motors that sit between the creepo artillery in the bottom bracket of the frame. While eastward-bike motors are complex pieces of technology that warrant a whole post but to themselves, there are some generalities we can make that will help yous become the jist of the pros and cons of each.

Mid bulldoze motors: When 250W is often plenty

The Fazua Evation is a unique 250W mid-bulldoze motor that's configured every bit a removable drive pack containing the motor and battery. This particular example is nestled within the downtube of a BULLS Alpine Hawk EVO electric road cycle.

• Many, many mid-drive e-wheel motors are nominally rated at 250W. And generally, these motors are powering east-bikes regarded among the nigh powerful and highest performance on the marketplace. E-bike motor manufacturers on the bleeding edge of e-bike performance — namely Bosch, Brose, Shimano and more — make loftier functioning 250W motors.
• Mid-drive motors make more ability out of less wattage by leveraging the bike's drivetrain. The bike's performance, torque and speed volition modify relative to which gear y'all choose, making them optimal for high-performance e-bikes such every bit premium commuting eastward-bikes, eastward-cargo bikes, eMTBs and others.
• By using less wattage, the motors require smaller batteries and are often much lighter.
• This operation and efficiency often comes with a college price tag. Mid-bulldoze motors are often found on e-bikes costing more than several thousand dollars.
• Manufacturers are very good near building 250W mid-drive motors that are particularly tuned for specific applications, such equally high-torque motors for e-cargo bikes and high-speed motors for commuters.

Hub motors: More than watts are meliorate (most of the time)

A 750W Bafang rear hub motor on an Aventon Aventure electrical fat bike.

• Hub motors are where nosotros typically run across e-bikes bumping up against the 750W legal motor size. While more powerful on paper, hub motors — nigh often found laced into the rear wheel — do non transfer power through the gears and require much more energy to produce a similar effect as mid-drive setups. Because of the differences in how the power is applied, a 750W hub motor and 250W mid-bulldoze are much more comparable in the real world than they'd seem on paper.
• These motors require larger batteries and unremarkably yield a heavier cycle.
• Hub motors are probably the well-nigh popular choice merely because they're often quite a bit cheaper than mid-drives. Nearly all of the affordable due east-bikes nosotros test have hub motors. There are some exceptions to this rule — such as the ultra-premium hub-driven Stromer e-bikes and the lightweight Mahle eBikeMotion X35 hub found on many high performance e-route bikes.
• Though the rule of thumb is more watts are better for hub-driven east-bikes, we've ridden enough of 250W hub drives that we really, really similar. The Ride1UP Roadster V2 is an case of 1 such bike every bit is the KBO Hurricane. It all depends on the bike's weight and how it was intended to exist used. For case, 250W from a hub-driven city bike that's lightweight and designed to exist ridden in a apartment area is probably plenty, whereas 750W is probably more appropriate for a hub-driven electric fatty bike that weighs 70-plus lbs and is built to tackle more than variable or hilly terrain.

Nominal versus max wattage

Last but non least, be sure you lot pay attending to whether an east-bike company is listing its "max" motor output in watts or the motor's "nominal" output in watts, considering the two metrics are very different.

A motor's nominal wattage is the maximum corporeality of power it can sustain for long periods of time, while the max output is the wattage a motor is capable of for a very short burst. Nominal wattage is the more than important of the two and really describes what a motor volition feel like for the majority of the fourth dimension y'all're riding it.

Max output is even so a useful rating — one that gives y'all an thought of how difficult a bike might accelerate or how it might feel on a very steep hill — but motors are only capable of reaching their max output for just a few seconds. Anything more than that, and a motor would produce and then much heat information technology risks permanent damage.

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Source: https://electricbikereport.com/is-250-watt-motor-enough/

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