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What's the difference between electric cars and hybrid cars?

What's difference between 2 cars with equal horsepower but differing torque?

  • Will the one with less torque struggle on hills more or be the same but rely on the horses more and use more fuel or what? Actually this concerns buying vans and pulling heavy loads

  • Answer:

    VERY generally speaking, horsepower is responsible for speed and torque is responsible for acceleration. now for less deceiving details. usually a force is a push or a pull on an object. torque is a force associated with a twisting action like pushing on a wrench to tighten or loosen a bolt. Horsepower = ft/lbs x RPM / 5252 the 'ft/lbs' isnt actually a division statement, just a unit of torque, and is actually the only force that an internal combustion produces. so as you can see, horsepower is a measure of torque with respect to time or frequency. the torque is multiplied by revolutions per minute and then that number is divided by the ever constant value of 5252. so the more torque you have the quicker the engine will accelerate and the less trouble the car will have towing or climbing hills

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Torque is what gives one quick powerful starts even when lightly touching the gas pedal. Horsepower allows you to easily climb mountain roads effortlessly. Vehicles with a lot of horsepower may not react quickly if the torque is less than the horsepower. On the other hand, even a vehicle of less horsepower will react quickly if the torque is equal to or even exceeds the horsepower. But horsepower sustains the power. For instance, a vehicle with 275 horse power and a torque of 275 is a very good combination defining a car as very powerful. A vehicle of 227 horsepower and 220 torque is very good as quick starts, but just not as powerful as the one with greater horsepower. My recommendation for minimum acceptable power and torque (8 cylinder) is 275/275, but never sacrifice torque for horsepower. Keep torque as close to horsepower as possible even in a 6 cylinder.

gismoII

Good torque equals happy towing. Far less revs are needed and the trailer will move off much better. Diesels have far more torque than equivalent size petrols.

Bazza

The one with more torque will have better pulling power.

Moonpie666

Horsepower is how fast you hit the brick wall. Torque is how far you take the wall with you once you've hit it.......

EvelynThe ModifiedDog.

Horsepower is more the ability to maintain a fixed speed. Torque is the ability to get to a speed. Torque is more beneficial for towing than horsepower.

Cooper

The one with more torque and a flatter torque curve will be best for towing and hill going. But the numbers that companies and dealerships give you is the peak torque and horsepower, and at what rpm thy occur.... Say car 1 has 120peak hp at 3500rpm and 120 ft/lbs of torque at 4200rpm. and car 2 has the same peak hp at the same spot and has say 100 peak torque, but at a different rpm of 3000rpm. You can judge that car 2's power comes on a little sooner. That would probably be the better choice for towing. Its all in the torque curve. Check out this article. Might help a little. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2215/whats-the-difference-between-horsepower-and-torque

Tork

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