Today I learned the metric equivalent of horsepower is, horsepower. You’d think someone would have come up with a better name.
Today I learned the metric equivalent of horsepower is, horsepower. You’d think someone would have come up with a better name.
You’re right, yet there are two definitions of the horse power, the imperial
1 hp ≈ 745.7 Wand the metric1 hp = 735.49875 W. The latter is usually given in its local name, e.g. as PS, cv, … etc., while the imperial is usually hp independent of the language of the document.As you said, in Europe, quantifying the power of a machine (e.g. a car) in horse powers is supplementary only and thus, does not suffice on its own, the data must always be given in kW.
to further complicate things … we also use:
and a few others (when talking about vehicles at least)
We’re a mess
Yet somehow people still use PS or horsepower in everyday language. At least in Germany.
One reason is probably that the power in PS is a 36 % larger number than in kW.