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Horsepower to Kilowatts Conversion

Enter a power figure in horsepower and choose which kind of horsepower it is — mechanical, electrical, or metric — to get the same power in kilowatts. The three kinds are not equal, so the answer depends on that choice.

Horsepower to kilowatts

This page changes a power figure from horsepower into kilowatts. There is one number field and a select for the kind of unit: Mechanical horsepower, Electrical horsepower, or Metric horsepower.

Type the amount, pick the kind, and press Convert — nothing is worked out until you do. The result appears in a card below the button. Copy writes the result and its unit to the clipboard, and Clear resets the form.

Under the form there is a reference table for Mechanical horsepower, giving the kilowatts for 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 1000 hp.

The three kinds of horsepower

One mechanical horsepower is 550 ft·lbf/s, exactly 745.69987158227022 W. One electrical horsepower is exactly 746 W. One metric horsepower is exactly 735.49875 W.

Because those three values differ, the same number of horsepower is worth a different number of kilowatts under each setting.

Horsepower to kilowatts formula

Multiply the horsepower figure by the factor for the kind you selected: mechanical: 1 hp = 0.74569987158227022 kW; electrical: 1 hp = 0.746 kW; metric: 1 hp = 0.73549875 kW.

The Mechanical horsepower table gives the answers for common amounts: 1 hp = 0.74569987158227022 kW, 10 hp = 7.4569987158227022 kW, and 100 hp = 74.569987158227022 kW.

So a figure quoted in metric horsepower converts lower than the same figure in mechanical horsepower, since 1 metric hp is 0.73549875 kW against 0.74569987158227022 kW for the mechanical kind.