Why are E-Scooters/their motors listed as having SO much more power handling capacity than E-bikes?

[mindgames11]

I mean, E Bikes I see 250, 350, 500, 750, 1000 and 1,500. Most Everyone here has seen enough ads to have a general feeling about the number of bikes advertised (and consequentially sold?) in what power groupings- legal limits in areas make this almost not a guess. I'm sure in Germany 99% of all E bike sales are 250W- their maximum the law allows for road-legal.

Scooters however...woah. I frequently (for the non-365/hiboy/gotrax/ninebot configuration) see scooters advertised as over 1.5kw. Just saw one that had a single motor at iirc 2,300w.
I take it that a plurality (or is it more like 99%?) of e scooters are direct drive motors since the small wheel size lessens the need for gearing... fine that accounts for a general trend of scooter motor power quotes looking like some equivalent to direct drive E bike hub motors.
But not all of the discrepancy in quoted power can be chalked up to direct drive. Even if the numbers are some kind of instantaneous peak power they seem high.

does anyone have insight into this?

 

[DaLanMan]

::thinks about it::

I am gonna guess "because kids are easy to make" is probably not the answer you were looking for...

I have a few scooter motors in the "I have no idea why I bought these" box, and yeah, they are all rated stupid high. I got them from a company salvaging out a dead rental companies merch. They had stripped the wheel's and stuff off and I got them for a great -price, then realised, I kinda like my kiddo...

 

[RunForTheHills]

Bicycle components are not designed to handle high powered motors and speeds much above 25-30 mph and there may be liability for companies when things start breaking and people get hurt because their device was used inappropriately.

 

[calab]

Even if the numbers are some kind of instantaneous peak power they seem high.

does anyone have insight into this?

"Advertising" to increase sales

 

[Chalo]

E-bikes are much more likely to have restrictive legal definitions and limitations than scooters do. As a result, many/most e-bikes are rated lower than their actual power, and probably many/most scooters have grossly exaggerated ratings.

 

[neptronix]

The much smaller wheel in scooters allows you to get more power out of a given mass of copper, iron, and neodymium magnets, and without a punitive power restriction, manufacturers can take advantage of that.

Here's an example..
The MXUS 3kw hub motor is actually 2.25kw continuous in a 26" wheel but 3kw continuous in a 20" wheel. Imagine how much power you can get out of this same motor with a 12" wheel..

Scooters are also heavier so they need more power to accelerate.

 

[DogDipstick]

My first bike hit 8kW peaks on a 1000w motor. took it for tens of thousands of mile.

......then i upgraded it to a 3000w motor and bigger controller and did 12,000w.

I have built a few for other people that even hit 20kW.

20kW with pedals, lol, yes.