Is the torque rating of an eBike with mid-drive measured on bench or with chain removed or are they telling you the torque between the wheel & the ground through the lowest gear? Otherwise, I don't know why a hub motor should have less torque than a mid motor. So does the mid drive eBike give you more torque only at the expense of speed?
Mid-drive motors will have a higher torque then mid-drives of the same wattage because of the nature of the motor. Torque for mid-drive motors is measured at the crankshaft, whereas the torque of the hub motor is measured at the motor shaft. They cannot however be fairly compared one-to-one when it comes to power to ground - because the torque or force generated is being applied in different methods. With the hub motor powering the wheel directly it is being applied through the gear ratio of the electric motor, if it is a geared hub so this must be taken into account. With the mid-drive motor is is being applied through the drivetrain and bikes gearing which must be taken into account. Some good articles on the web detail this, and in general we can see that if a hub and mid-drive motor of the same wattage and torque rating are compared, the mid-drive will outperform the hub from an acceleration and torque standpoint up to a certain speed, where after the hub motor will have slightly more torque for high speed or high RPM travel. This is why by nature hub motors can maintain a higher speed more easily for the rider, whereas the mid-drive motor will be more inclined to provide more torque at lower end speeds, and slightly less push at higher speeds.
