Most of the boards on the market have about 400 to 600 watts for the average user not doing extreme stuff with the exception of the Pipemaster boards at 200 watts which seem to compete with the 600 watt boards based on their engineering that is unique.
A 250 lb person with a 600 watt /36 volt motor should have no problem but if 400 watts their might be some issue.
The 800 watt motors with 36 volts can pretty much accelerate anyone who stands on it.
The 1000 watt motors such as on an Eglide, is just rediculous in torque and power. This is not 1000 peak watts either. Their peak is 1500 watts, enough to throw you off the board.
For going up hill on all terrain, I like boards with at least 800 watts, and 1000 (constant) watts if going up steaper hills and I don't want it to bog down.
Note. Continous power is not the same thing as burst power. This is known at peak power.
Some boards have tons of constant power in the first part but the battery loses power and the wattage of the motor really doesn't matter becasue the battery is so cheap that it has lost most of its peak power. You can start out going up hills just fine but after some time you have to kick push it each time you accelerate because the battery has lost the energy strong enough to move you quickly off when you are going from a stopped position.
As the weight of the person is increased, certain motors can give less torque. A brushless motor works much differently than a Brushed motor with fully loaded and needing high torque.
Note: a 600 watt AC motor is not the same thing as a 600 watt DC motor. It is much stronger. 600 watts on that motor is much stronger and you really can't compare motors unless you are comparing AC to AC and comparing DC to DC.
Cheap motors with high wattage can usually heat up sooner than others, especially with heavier people. No one likes to sit and wait for their board to cool down.
Note: the brushed motors are much noisier but for the power sacrifice many people get the brushed motors. 600 watts going into a brushed versus a brushless motor gives different power and uses different efficiencies of energy.
The hi wattage brushless motors have permanently lubricated ball bearings. The brushed motors givet he board a different feel as their is more friction in the motor. It feels more like riding a Goped. These are illegal where I am. I got busted too many times and finally got rid of it. I has a weed eater motor from John Deere and it went 30 miles per hour.
The torque that is produced by a 600W motor is not the same as a brushless or DC motor and AC motor.
These motors need less battery power a they have much less copper windings to produce the same torque and power as the motors of equivialent power.
NOTICE: 1 horsepower is equal to 746 watts. Depending on the wattage (input wattage) it will determine true HP, not after making the board more powerful by altering the gears.
Note: there is a difference in power in models with the same wattage but different horsepower. A 250 watt motor can have double the horsepower as a 250 watt motor that runs slow and can barely make it up hills. The gearing plays the biggest part in making a weak motor perform like a higher wattage motor. It uses less electricity but just doesn't have the torque but can get up to the tops speeds but just takes a few extra seconds. It takes more energy to break and accelerate and can run the battery down quicker on the lower amperage models but having a bigger battery makes up for it.
If you want help deciign if a low amperage or high amperage model with the same wattage or a low wattage model with higher rpms that performs like a higher wattage motor with lower rpms, let me know on my quiz. Take my skate board quiz here.
