Motor Power

[1234567890]

I am the new owner of a Vado 4.0, and looking back at the data on my first few rides, I am trying to reconcile the observed data with what I expected from marketing material, reviews and such.

For example, I keep reading that the motor on Vado 4.0 peaks at 470-520W depending on the sources, while in my rides, I see the peak of motor power at 610W, are those different metrics?
Specialized website also claims the motor puts out 3x rider power, while looking back at my ride, motor power is more like 4-5x rider power.

Is Specialized underpromising or I am not looking at the correct metrics?

 

[gpburdell]

Probably be helpful if you'd share the detail of what you're looking at to give you those figures.

If you're seeing 610W, I suspect that may be the total combined power. For example a few days ago I managed to get my 2022 Vado 4.0 to put out 462W, which means I would've been putting 154W into the pedals, for a total of 616W. My wife and I had stopped part way up, and I pushed the bike hard as it'd go resuming the climb. (disregard)

I'm also curious what source you're seeing list more than 470W max for the Vado 4.0? 560W is the spec for the 5.0's motor. See https://support.specialized.com/turbovado/en/components-compatibility/turbo-system

 

[1234567890]

I am looking at my ride on https://ride.specialized.com/en/activity/ride-history

This is one example here when moving the cursor: rider power 156W, motor power 612W

 

[gpburdell]

Interesting. Hadn't looked at that on Specialized's site before. Here's approximately the same moment (4 seconds different) from Specialized as I showed from Strava above.

I guess Strava is reporting ride input power, not motor. Perhaps the max assist specification is a 3 or 5 second average and the figures on the site are an instantaneous number.

 

[gpburdell]

Just to make it a bit more interesting, here's data from a ride where I had my Garmin Edge 830 along. Specialized's site, then Strava, then Garmin Connect. So yes, I was mistaken in my first post - just rider power is getting sent out to Strava and displayed at Garmin Connect.

I suspect what may be getting reported is the battery output delivered to the motor and not the motor output power to the crank, which reportedly is ~80% of the former. I'd suggest you set up a screen on your TCD_w to display both Motor power electric (mot pow el) as well as Motor power mechanical (mot pow mech) fields and see what's displayed as you test it out. See https://support.specialized.com/tur...-interface/mastermind-tcu-tcd-display-options

 

[Stefan Mikes]

For example, I keep reading that the motor on Vado 4.0 peaks at 470-520W depending on the sources, while in my rides, I see the peak of motor power at 610W, are those different metrics?

What most of users typically overlook is the measured electrical power is not the mechanical power as delivered to the drivetrain. It is because of the motor efficiency.

A typical efficiency of a Specialized/Brose motor is some 78%, or 0.78. The mechanical power here is 610 * 0.78 = 475.8 W. As the figure of efficiency is not published anywhere, the mechanical power of that motor could be the rated 470 W.

Look at it the other way. The Specialized 1.2s motor as found on my older Vado 5.0 has the rated mechanical peak power of 520 W. Electrical peak power = 520 / 0.78 = 666 W, and that is what I can read in Mission Control.

The Specialized/Mahle SL 1.1 motor as found in SL e-bikes has the rated mechanical peak power of 240 W. Mission Control reads 303 W (electrical). The efficiency there is 240 / 303 = 0.792.

I hope it explain all the doubts.

 

[1234567890]

Thanks guys, this all makes sense, and good to observe that the peak mechanical power does match the stated specs