Got my first beginner electric skateboard a week ago, mind blown wish I got one ages ago...but realized after day 1 that I'm gonna need more.
Spent a bit of time reading up about VESC and think it's pretty clear that VESC is better than the hobbywing ESC...but could someone please explain. the average VESC amp rating is upwards of 50A while hobbywing ESC is only around 12.5 amps but they can both run the same size (power rating) motors? How is that possible? Thanks in advance.
Power rating is different than Amperage Rating.
Simplified: Power = Voltage X Current (Amps)
If the VESC has a higher Amp rating, then that would mean you could Produce the same power with the same motor using a Smaller voltage battery.
Since the Hobbywing ESC is limited to 12.5 Amps, then you would be able to produce ~460 watts @ 10S Voltage whereas you could theoretically produce the same Power with a 50A VESC at only 3S battery voltage (even higher at ~550 Watts).
However, usually ESCs also have a Voltage limit. So the VESC is a great option for high power, because it usually allows High voltage combined with a relatively large Amp limit.
Likewise, A motor can produce the same Power (Wattage), if the Volts are raised to compensate for the Amp limit (Your ESC must support a higher voltage to do this).
Lets say you want atleast 500 Watts Max Continuous Power-
On the 50A VESC you would need a Voltage of only 3S (11.1V times 50A equals 555W)
On the 12.5A HobbyWing ESC you would need a 12S (44.4V times 12.5 equals 555W)
The chances are that the HobbyWing ESC does not support 12S if it is limited to only 12.5 Amps continuous.