Why do we use horsepower to talk about automotive performance? What do horses have to do with a car engine?
These are very common doubts and there is a very plausible explanation for why we use “horses” to talk about power. In this article we will explain the reason for the term “horsepower”, as well as its importance in the vehicle reprogramming process!
What is horsepower?
Horsepower, also called horsepower (CV) or, in English, horsepower (HP), is a term that refers to the power of an engine.
In technical terms, power is the useful energy generated by the engine, which, simply put, can be said to be the “acceleration capacity” of the vehicle.
In advertising materials, engine power is illustrated in tests of how long the car takes to reach 100 km/h. However, what does the horse have to do with an engine?
When was horsepower invented and why is it called that?
The origin of horsepower is in 1768, when engineer James Watt invented the steam engine. At the time, this was the first engine of its kind, so there was no way to compare it and define its power in this way, as the most common means of transport were horses.
Faced with this impasse, Watt placed the horses (the animals themselves) on a treadmill, so that he could measure the energy they generated. Hence the reason for the “horsepower” of power.
The measurement was based on the force that a horse generated in 1 second to lift a 75kg object to a height of 1 meter.
The result that James Watt found was that horses generate about 745,7 Watts, which became known as 1 horsepower (HP), or horsepower. However, in some countries, including Brazil, the term “horsepower” (CV) is also used.
What is the difference between CV and HP?
First of all, HP is the acronym in English for horsepower, which translated would be something like “horse force”. Like this, HP and CV These are terms to talk about the power of an engine, but they cannot be used as synonyms.
This is because they are units of measurement that have different values. For this reason, it is common for these terms to not even be used in technical documents. The measurement used in this context is Watts.
In this sense, converting CV and HP to Watts, we have:
- 1 CV = 735,5 Watts
- 1 HP = 745,7 Watts
Thus, It is clear that the horsepower has “less” power than the horsepower. For example, a 100 HP engine would have about 1000 Watts more than a 100 HP engine.
Thus, we can see that the difference between CV and HP has the same logic as the difference between pounds and kilograms. That is, despite being units of measurement for mass, pounds and kg are measured with different values.
Is there a difference between horsepower and torque?
Another term that generates a lot of confusion is torque, which is usually used in the same context as power. However, each one plays a different role when analyzing the performance of a vehicle, for example.
In short, and without going into technical definitions, we can say that:
- Modules: ability of an engine to maintain acceleration;
- Torque: force that an engine has to bring the vehicle from rest.
Thus, a vehicle with a lot of torque is able to start faster. This is quite interesting, for example, for urban cars, where starting off and reaching the desired speed is more important than maintaining high speeds. This also applies to trucks, which need a lot of force to be able to start.
Power, therefore, has its moment of glory when it comes to maintaining high speeds. This is because the horsepower can be “felt” by the driver when shifting gears or when accelerating to overtake, for example.
How is a vehicle's power measured?
Having understood all the terms about engine power, we still need to understand how it is, in fact, measured.
To measure the horsepower of a vehicle, equipment called a dynamometer. There are several models of this equipment, such as the bench dynamometer, which measures the engine without being mounted on the vehicle in a testing laboratory.
On the other hand, there are roller or chassis dynamometers. These are devices in which the car's wheels are supported on rollers, so that they can accelerate without leaving their place.
It is with the help of these rollers and various sensors that a computer is capable of calculating engine power and several other performance metrics. In fact, the dynamometer even allows you to simulate performance during gear changes, curves, inclined tracks, among other scenarios.
The role of horsepower in the remap process
As mentioned, horsepower stands out especially when overtaking, since the vehicle (already in motion) needs to gain speed quickly.
Inside of one remap process, the main objective is to gain power. Therefore, measuring horsepower is one of the main indicators of whether the reprogramming was a success.
Without this measurement, it is not possible to understand whether the remap generated power gains, nor to understand how many horsepower the engine gained through the process. In other words, to have precision and quality, measuring the car's power is crucial and, for this, you need the appropriate equipment.
How does reprogramming increase vehicle horsepower?
Ultimately, as a remap increases car horsepower? It turns out that vehicle engines do not leave the factory with maximum power “enabled”. Thus, the cars are limited to running in the situations simulated at the factory.
In this sense, the remap makes a change to the Electronic Injection Central (ECU) software, allowing these limiters to be removed and, thus, achieving greater performance.
However, why don't vehicles leave the factory with full power? We explain why a car doesn't come with a factory remap here.
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Trust in the vast experience and excellence of Strike Brasil to maximize your vehicle's potential and eliminate speed restrictions. Contact Us today and discover how we can significantly improve your driving experience, providing greater safety in critical situations. Accelerate with confidence and performance alongside Strike Brasil.
