Electric vs. nitro, watts/horsepower.

[crazyjr]

Originally Posted by Scoob

I have a simple question that I've been meaning to ask some knowledgeable people.

1 HP = 746 watts

It seems that an electric doesn't need nearly the peak horsepower of a nitro to have the same or greater performance.

Why is this? Anyone who's competed with nitro, with a BL and knows the nitro HP ratings, understands what I mean. My electric supposedly has 1/4 the power of the nitros but is just as fast.

I noticed that as well, i have a Novak hv brushless with 375W, which is roughly .56HP and have no trouble running with the nitro's, must be the torque

[BrianG]

Yeah, it's the same with 1:1 vehicles. Manufacturers only list the peak HP, which is usually at or near the top of the RPM range, which is kinda useless as you don't have much RPM left to take advantage of the power before you have to shift. Torque is almost always rated at its peak as well and is usually only for a narrow RPM range. An electric motor has almost full power at all RPMs which makes it feel much stronger. If you were to average out a Nitro engines' torque or HP over its full revv range, you'd find it is probably less than half its rated value.