What is the power generation capacity of all US cars combined?

[FallenHero]

I don't even know how much power a normal car can produce, so there is a ton of work cut out here I think. Answer the question...combined total, what is the total power output of all cars in the US in terms of Watts?

 

[MrPickins]

Find the # of registered Vehicles in the US, multiply that by avg horsepower (if you can find it), then multiply that by 745 to convert into watts. 😀

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: MrPickins
Find the # of registered Vehicles in the US, multiply that by avg horsepower (if you can find it), then multiply that by 745 to convert into watts. 😀

why 745?

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: FallenHero

Originally posted by: MrPickins
Find the # of registered Vehicles in the US, multiply that by avg horsepower (if you can find it), then multiply that by 745 to convert into watts. 😀

why 745?

Because 745w = 1hp. Or something around there.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: FallenHero

Originally posted by: MrPickins
Find the # of registered Vehicles in the US, multiply that by avg horsepower (if you can find it), then multiply that by 745 to convert into watts. 😀

why 745?

Because 745w = 1hp. Or something around there.

745.6something IIRC.

I'm looking for statistics atm, I'll see if I can come up with an estimate.

 

[Spacehead]

1 horsepower hour = 745.699 861 111 watthour

Online Conversion

 

[FallenHero]

hrmmm.....

204 million vehicles approx. 204,000,000 x 745 = 151980000000 watts

151,980,000,000

151.98 billion watts.

151,980 megawatts. Could that power that entire US?

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
204 million vehicles approx. 204,000,000 x 745 = 151980000000 watts

151,980,000,000

151.98 billion watts.

151,980 megawatts. Could that power that entire US?

The unit conversion gods are frowning on that "math".

(204 million vehicles) * (150 hp/vehicle) = 30.6 billion hp.
(30.6 billion hp)*(745.7 W/hp) = 22.8 trillion W

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
hrmmm.....

204 million vehicles approx. 204,000,000 x 745 = 151980000000 watts

151,980,000,000

151.98 billion watts.

151,980 megawatts. Could that power that entire US?

Most cars have more than 1 hp.

 

[Vic]

A couple issues here besides the bad math.

Most cars operate for less than an hour a day.

Most cars are never called upon to make anything near their peak hp.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: FallenHero
204 million vehicles approx. 204,000,000 x 745 = 151980000000 watts

151,980,000,000

151.98 billion watts.

151,980 megawatts. Could that power that entire US?

The unit conversion gods are frowning on that "math".

(204 million vehicles) * (150 hp/vehicle) = 30.6 billion hp.
(30.6 billion hp)*(745.7 W/hp) = 22.8 trillion W

didn't you forget to multiply by the average horsepower of a car?

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: brikis98

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: FallenHero
204 million vehicles approx. 204,000,000 x 745 = 151980000000 watts

151,980,000,000

151.98 billion watts.

151,980 megawatts. Could that power that entire US?

The unit conversion gods are frowning on that "math".

(204 million vehicles) * (150 hp/vehicle) = 30.6 billion hp.
(30.6 billion hp)*(745.7 W/hp) = 22.8 trillion W

didn't you forget to multiply by the average horsepower of a car?

Oh my...man, I need more coffee. I'm still waking up.

 

[MrPickins]

243,023,485Cars * 150HP/Car * 745.7HP/Watt ? 27183 GigaWatts



http://www.automotivedigest.com/research/research_results.asp?sigstats_id=573 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passenger_vehicles_in_the_United_States

 

[mercanucaribe]

http://mb-soft.com/public/headlite.html

It takes 40hp for a Corvette to cruise at 70mph. So probably 50hp for a sedan, and higher for an SUV. That's probably a good number to use for constant output, because a 250hp car engine cranking out 250hp constantly will not last long.

 

[FallenHero]

Originally posted by: Vic
A couple issues here besides the bad math.

Most cars operate for less than an hour a day.

Most cars are never called upon to make anything near their peak hp.

I'm just speaking hypothetically here. If all cars were powered up and somehow all hooked up to the grid, how much power would they produce and would it be enough to power the entire US?

 

[Vic]

No, he got it, but the average driver rarely has his car's engine output more than about 50 hp. Even if you have a 300 hp car, that peak hp is only acheived for a few milliseconds even at wide-open throttle.

edit:

Originally posted by: FallenHero
I'm just speaking hypothetically here. If all cars were powered up and somehow all hooked up to the grid, how much power would they produce and would it be enough to power the entire US?

Sure, if every car in the US would turned on and cranked to maximum output 24/7, it would be more than power the entire US, but it would be far less efficient than how power companies do it now.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: FallenHero
I'm just speaking hypothetically here. If all cars were powered up and somehow all hooked up to the grid, how much power would they produce and would it be enough to power the entire US?

The typical energy use of the US is 3.33 TW. If all cars in the US were running simultaneously at their peak hp, it is in the 20-30 TW range as shown above. So yes. Even if we go with Vic's lesser 50 hp number, we are talking 6-10 TW, that is 2-3 times the amount of power used in the US.

Of course there are lots of problems, we can't supply that much fuel in the form of gasoline for example.