What is a horsepower? | Know it All with Jason Cammisa | Ep. 06

Many cars come with two different horsepower ratings, and that's because there are two measures of horsepower: Imperial Horsepower (hp or bhp) and Metric Horsepower (PS, CV, PK, etc.)

Power is a measure of how quickly work can be done, and horsepower is no different. Imperial (US/SAE) horsepower is defined as 550 ft-lbf/s, where Metric (European/DIN) horsepower is defined as 75 kgf-m/s.

They're similar, but it turns out European horses are only 0.986 times as strong as American ones.

Of course, horsepower is an outdated unit, replaced by watts. 1 hp = 745.7 watts; 1 PS = 735.5 watt - and of course all electric motors are already rated in thousands of watts, or kW.

But that's far less sexy, isn't it?

Watts may move a car, but horsepower sells it.

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Horsepower Graphic, thank you Wikipedia.

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[jiveturkey]

This dude is a pretty damn sharp car journalist.

[hasantopcu]

This format is unbelievably fun and informative

[Micko]

No special effects, no fancy editing, just pure talent.

[robinmatthewsechols]

Please pay this crew more and more so we never have to stop enjoying ourselves! Jason is great and the production/ writing is top notch. Thanks for this channel

[michaelhedges]

Freaking brilliant... Finally FINALLY someone explained it in a way I could understand it.

[GY]

Jason Camissa is the single best person I can imagine doing this. You’re an absolute joy to watch mister!

[iJeremyN]

@JasonCammisa So happy to see you teamed up with Hagerty... reminds me of MT before Discovery got involved and everything started becoming so watered down. It seems you’ve found a team that ‘gets it’ and understands a lot of the benefits of YouTube content creation. The production value is outstanding and I can’t wait to see where you guys go from here! Happy for you man, keep up the good work.

[dwembree]

This is hands down the best auto / tech series i've seen, really nice work Jason & team!

[gregtheegg]

Knowledge, style, timing, I admire what you all have done here.

[gti]

You need to come out more with these episodes more ofter....seriously!

[vikingmetalhead]

Weirdly enough, EV manufacturers, even the new ones like Lucid, Tesla etc use horsepower on their websites, not kilowatts. Deiter isn't going anywhere, I guess.

[maxeluy]

The aussies are ahead, they measure cars in KW for a long time now.

[benbrown]

Fine. I'll look up the kW - HP conversion myself.

[sxefv]

😅😂😂😂
Funny and knowledgeable, I love that
Well done

[clubracergt]

Cammisa is the best gift ever to the world of automotive nerdery.

[MrMatDB]

jason cammisa is an actual gift to this world

[Treaxvour]

If this guy were the teacher in every class in America we would be excelling in academics. The way he explains stuff is top notch.

[mrjdgibbs]

What i like about using horsepower is that knowing peak power and torque tells me something about an engine. For example, if an engine makes 500 lb ft of torque but only 250 hp then I know that it's a monster up to like 2500 hundred rpm but then dies like it's been shot in the back. LIkewise if an engine only makes 150 lb ft of torque but has 300 hp I know that it has a high redline and that you'll have to use it to go fast. Because 5252 is always the denominator once I have the power and torque figures I will always have an idea about how an engine does above and below that line.

[bedmember]

To clarify at 3:23 a "modern" turbocharged car will be quicker around town, not the old school turbo which has lag for days.But damn the amount of knowledge this guy has.

[danteriyaki]

Slight correction, work isn’t measured in torque it is measured in torque times the number of revolutions. Otherwise a really informative and entertaining video as always, keep it up Jason!