Would that number change depending on how you kit out your ship [with different thrusters, engines and power plants]?
TL;DRYes: swapping thrusters may require a better power plant and coolers or removing weapons, and ships will differ through component customization and wear, so players learn their ship's capacity by experimenting.
If you find yourself running into this, you could start swapping out your thruster sets to a more powerful set. If you do that, you might need a better power plant because it's going to start requiring more power. It's going to start overheating more, so you need to start swapping out your coolers. You might need to start taking things off, like taking all your weapons off because they're taking up power and generating heat that you need to spend elsewhere. So it all just sort of trickles together.
I love the idea that not every Avenger, not every Caterpillar, not every Starlifter is going to be the same once we get into the customization of components and stuff, and that'll be a big factor. I just really keyed on that, like, you will learn your ship's capacity through experimentation.
Even if two people kitted out their ship the same way, if one is absolutely hammering, doing cargo runs day in, day out, it's going to be a lot more worn than someone that's just freshly done the exact same thing. So you're going to have to account for that as well.