Originally Posted by
2old
AFAIK, motor wattage is pretty much what a motor can produce continuously without overheating. As intimated above, the manufacturers are fast and loose with their values, and some individuals report putting two or three times the designated amount into a motor (probably for a limited time). I've never had a problem with my 1000w motor with a 30 amp controller and 52V battery (theoretically 1,500 or so watts).
Definitely not true. Wattage can be whatever the manufacturer wants it to be: instantaneous peak power, gross, net, etc. Most of these high wattage motors are no doubt rated for instantaneous peak power, a power output that can only be sustained for a short period of time, probably seconds long. Heat is the problem for all these motors, even mid drive hub motors. No motor is 100% efficient in converting electricity to mechanical motion. 10 to 50% of the input power is lost as heat, so you can imagine why high power bike motors get hot under high load.