Mercane Wide Wheel - wheel friction losses

Something I'd like to know (and I guess I'll need to test it side by side) is if the Mercane Wide Wheel scooter (please click this link for all my Mercane Wide Wheel posts).

I've mentioned before that the motors on this type are internal hub motors, but these are no simply a electric stator pushing a rotor in the wheel, they actually have a gear down so that the motor can spin at optimal speeds and give more torque. Exactly like this one from a bicycle (not my video)

So there is some loss in that even when the motor is turning, but when its not powered the loss is a bit more because of that gearing.

Accordingly my Mercane goes down hills with a bit of resistance all the time from that motor (not just from the tyres).

As one who uses this to travel to and from places (home to shops, home to work, home to friends places) I'm actually interested as much in range as I am in "WoW" power. This is because most of my time is spent on relatively straight bits of road / cycle paths.

So I wonder if this Single Motor 8.8Ah battery system gives similar range to the Dual Motor 13.2Ah system because of parasitic frictional losses as well as two motors pulling power.

If you aren't thinking about friction (and wonder where it may come from perhaps in this video we can see (and maybe hear) this:

So this is of course going to be double in the dual motor version (even if power is less per motor, motors are not 100% efficient, thus two will probably be less efficient than one. Sure the Dual Motor has a Eco mode (as indeeed does the Single Motor) in which I'm told the front wheel does not drive at all (in which case it is just a loss).

This is not unlike why classic 4WD's have "free wheeling hubs" that need to be engaged to give 4WD, and can be disengaged to give better fuel economy on the highway (even in 2WD setting).

In my normal use the single wheel is entirely satisfactory (and still a lot of fun) and gets up hills quite ok. This makes me wonder if the AU$1000 for the Single Motor 8.8 Ah battery will have an equal cruising range as does the the Dual Motor variant.

Basically at the time I bought it I found that the Single Wheel climbed a pretty steep hill, faster than I'd be able to walk it, so I thought the extra AU$600 needed for the Dual Motor was better in my pocket than on the front.