4 ms·

Crikey, 250W motor... they are handy and certainly better than everyone driving a car everywhere, but somehow the combination of power and low barrier to entry

Crikey, 250W motor... they are handy and certainly better than everyone driving a car everywhere, but somehow the combination of power and low barrier to entry invites a particular type of road (and pavement) assholery I could really do without. At least in my locale.

stephen_g 5y ago
I’ve got a Xiaomi Mi Scooter Pro 2, which is not super beefy, but it does peak up to 600W. You actually do need it for hills, I still don’t make it up some without kicking. It is speed limited to 25 km/h generally but some of these bigger ones that are much less “consumer” you see going 50-60 which is crazy (and illegal here).
masklinn 5y ago
250W continuous is not that much, and very much necessary (and possibly not sufficient) to handle even middling hills. For reference, 1HP = 735.5W. The worst 50cc you'll find are around 3HP, or above 2100W. Child-class go-karts generally start around 5hp, and the most common engines are the 6.5HP GX200 (or harbor freight's copy).
- rich_sasha 5y ago
  Go carts don’t go on pavements while talking on the mobile phone. I don’t mind the power, clearly, only what stupid people do with it.
  - masklinn 5y ago
    > I don’t mind the power, clearly, only what stupid people do with it. It is not clear at all, no. You pretty literally assert that 250W is a lot of power > Crikey, 250W motor... [...] somehow the combination of power
    - rich_sasha 5y ago
      I’ll simplify it for you. 250W is too much for an obnoxious idiot on the pavement.
bin_bash 5y ago
My Tesla has 270,000 watts including both motors. 250 watts is less than half of 1 horsepower. My lawnmower is more powerful than that. Were you thinking 250kW maybe?
- michaelt 5y ago
  A tour de france stage winning cyclist might only average 219 watts over a 5-hour stage [1] although with bursts where they use more power - 20 minutes at 330w, 15 seconds at 1025 watts. 250w is quite a bit of power for something on the sidewalk or bike lane :) (Of course, who knows how trustworthy these numbers are? I suspect scooter manufacturers know bigger numbers mean bigger sales, and choose their testing methods accordingly) [1] https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/rigoberto-urans-power-output-stage-9-tour-de-france-analysed-343585 https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/rig...
- masklinn 5y ago
  > 250 watts is less than half of 1 horsepower. For a more precise fraction, it's almost exactly 1/3rd HP (33.9% compared to metric HP, 33.5% compared to imperial).
sudosysgen 5y ago
250W is what a fit human can put out continuously, it's nothing.

stephen_g 5y ago

I’ve got a Xiaomi Mi Scooter Pro 2, which is not super beefy, but it does peak up to 600W. You actually do need it for hills, I still don’t make it up some without kicking. It is speed limited to 25 km/h generally but some of these bigger ones that are much less “consumer” you see going 50-60 which is crazy (and illegal here).

masklinn 5y ago

250W continuous is not that much, and very much necessary (and possibly not sufficient) to handle even middling hills. For reference, 1HP = 735.5W. The worst 50cc you'll find are around 3HP, or above 2100W. Child-class go-karts generally start around 5hp, and the most common engines are the 6.5HP GX200 (or harbor freight's copy).

rich_sasha 5y ago
Go carts don’t go on pavements while talking on the mobile phone. I don’t mind the power, clearly, only what stupid people do with it.
- masklinn 5y ago
  > I don’t mind the power, clearly, only what stupid people do with it. It is not clear at all, no. You pretty literally assert that 250W is a lot of power > Crikey, 250W motor... [...] somehow the combination of power
  - rich_sasha 5y ago
    I’ll simplify it for you. 250W is too much for an obnoxious idiot on the pavement.

bin_bash 5y ago

My Tesla has 270,000 watts including both motors. 250 watts is less than half of 1 horsepower. My lawnmower is more powerful than that. Were you thinking 250kW maybe?

michaelt 5y ago
A tour de france stage winning cyclist might only average 219 watts over a 5-hour stage [1] although with bursts where they use more power - 20 minutes at 330w, 15 seconds at 1025 watts. 250w is quite a bit of power for something on the sidewalk or bike lane :) (Of course, who knows how trustworthy these numbers are? I suspect scooter manufacturers know bigger numbers mean bigger sales, and choose their testing methods accordingly) [1] https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/rigoberto-urans-power-output-stage-9-tour-de-france-analysed-343585 https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/rig...
masklinn 5y ago
> 250 watts is less than half of 1 horsepower. For a more precise fraction, it's almost exactly 1/3rd HP (33.9% compared to metric HP, 33.5% compared to imperial).

sudosysgen 5y ago

250W is what a fit human can put out continuously, it's nothing.