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Originally Posted by Paul
So are you saying that our starter motors only need 20 amps x 7.2 volts or 144 watts of power? Since 746 watts are needed to produce 1 hp, that seems to be very low.
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Power's another beast altogether. 20A at 14v=.5hp more or less. That sounds about right to me. 150A at 14v would be 3hp, which would make your starter about the size of a large pool pump, which might be necessary on a higher compression vehicle.
As Voltage goes down, the impedance of the motor goes down, which causes current flow to increase. So if you're starter pulls 20A @ 14V, it'll pull 40A @ 7V. You're rolling an unloaded engine. You can roll the engine by pushing the car while it's in gear fairly easily with 1 person and we generate much less power than a horse.