The Wattmeter on my MP4 records a very consistent maximum peak battery current of ~30 Amps and that's with the controller set on 30 Amps
(which is the maximum available) I don't know what the maximum continuous current is likely to be
(and there are no adjustable settings for this) as the current always drops very quickly as the speed increases.
A very long steep hill would be required to cause a continuous high current draw under maximum load for a reasonable length of time, but my wattmeter is not easily visible while riding so I have never actually monitored the current under these conditions.
The "
Battery drawn current" can be set anywhere between 10~30 Amps and the "
Rated phase current" can be set anywhere between 35~70 Amps.
I have both of these setting on the maximum available and the maximum battery current has always been around 30 Amps except for one ride which for some unknown reason I recorded a maximum current of 34.08 Amps.
The phase current is typically much higher than the battery current as the windings receive a rapid succession of high frequency/ high current discharge pulses from the controller.
The capacitors in the controller act like a buffer to help smooth out the continuous current being drawn from the battery.
For anyone who's interested, read on and I'll try to explain why the phase current is higher than the battery current, just think of it in terms of water flow instead of current flow and it might be easier to comprehend.
Imagine there is a large water tank
(Controller) that is being filled up at the rate of 30 litres per second
(30 Amps) from a water supply
(Battery) at a constant pressure of 48psi
(48 Volts).
The tank has a very large tap at the bottom
(MOSFETs) which is fed by a booster pump
(Capacitor) which causes water to leave the tank
(Controller) under the same 48psi pressure
(48V) but with double the flow rate of 60 litres per second
(60A).
If this tap
(MOSFETs) is repeatedly turned fully ON for half a second and then turned completely OFF for half a second
(Pulse Width Modulation controlled output with Throttle @ 50%) the volume of water leaving the tap
(Power) would be identical to the volume of water feeding into the tank, but the peak flow rate measured at the tap
(Phase current) would be twice that of the peak flow rate supplying the tank
(Battery current).
I expect that after reading this weird explanation that you are probably still confused, I must admit that it took me a while to get my head around it as I simply could not initially understand how the peak phase current could be any different to the measured battery current.
Alan