How Does Horsepower Figure Into Electric Cars?

This post , part of a series we ’re running all about electrical car , was written by Patrick E. George from HowStuffWorks.com .

Just like a petrol - power internal combustion engine , anelectric automobile ’s motorgenerates superpower that drives the wheels to put thing in movement . Unlike a gasoline engine , electric vehicles ( EVs ) deliver powerfulness a small differently .

Power output signal from an electric motor can be measured in eitherhorsepoweror kilowatts – the latter a measurement of electricity . Nissan say their LEAF EV puts out 80 kW , while Toyota says the Prius cross ’s galvanizing motor has 60 H.P. . Remember , one kilowatt is rough 1.34 horsepower , so big businessman can be measured either fashion , although for now most American drivers understand H.P. a short better .

Let ’s talk a little bit about how electric motor and gasoline engines send great power to the wheels . The main dispute isimmediate power and torque . A car company may say that one of their petrol - powered engine has 300 horsepower , but that ’s actually peak horsepower . That number is the highest amount of power the railway locomotive can deliver at a sure number of revolution per minute of arc ( rev ) , and that number is normally middling high on the tachometer .

The downside to a petrol railway locomotive is that it must build revolutions per minute through speedup until it reaches its maximum power and torque . Not very effective when you think about it ! This also necessitates transmissions with several gears that optimize power end product at different engine hurrying .

In demarcation , switch on anelectric motoris similar to turning on a low-cal bulb . A light bulb turns on immediately when you jerk a switch ; it does n’t need time to build up mightiness . The peak baron of an EV is always at zero RPMs , which on theTesla Roadster is 288 horsepowerand 295 pound - feet of torque – all of it as soon as you hit the throttle .

What does all that mean for how HP is rated on electric motorcar ? It stand for that since force is useable like a shot , we may not want cars with massive H.P. soma any longer . Remember , theTesla buggy Sis about as fast as a Corvette Z06 with almost half its horsepower . So when the Nissan Leaf is said to put out a " bare " 107 horsepower , the same as their effective ( but not incisively racy ) Nissan Versa , odds are the Leaf will be warm in many office . The push experience will also be smoother , quieter and perhaps with less maintenance since an electric motor has so many fewer move part than aninternal combustion engine .