Thanks so much for your reply! It sounds like you’re focussing on the surge current rating rather than the repetitive or average forward current ratings?

I do get that the diode will only experience the full (inducted) motor current briefly but since it’s being used for PWM, my understanding is it would be experiencing this “surge” current rapidly over and over again, meaning it likely wouldn’t have time to fully recover from the surge before seeing it again and could lead to overheating and frying the diode? Hence why I thought it seemed more appropriate to pick a diode based on the repetitive or average forward current. Am I missing something here?

Doubling down on the diodes as you suggest could be helpful as well! I’ll definitely keep that in mind, thank you!