Power Converter
Convert between watts, kilowatts, horsepower, and BTU/hr.
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1 hp = 0.7457 kW
| Horsepower (hp) | Kilowatts (kW) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.7457 |
| 2 | 1.4914 |
| 5 | 3.7285 |
| 10 | 7.457 |
| 15 | 11.1855 |
| 20 | 14.914 |
| 25 | 18.6425 |
| 50 | 37.285 |
| 75 | 55.9275 |
| 100 | 74.57 |
| 150 | 111.855 |
| 200 | 149.14 |
| 250 | 186.425 |
| 500 | 372.85 |
| 1,000 | 745.7 |
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Power Unit Reference
| From | To |
|---|---|
| 1 horsepower (hp) | 745.7 watts |
| 1 kilowatt (kW) | 1.341 hp |
| 1 megawatt (MW) | 1,000 kW / 1,341 hp |
| 1 BTU/hr | 0.293 watts |
Power in Context
| Item | Power |
|---|---|
| LED light bulb (60W equivalent) | 9 W |
| Incandescent light bulb | 60 W |
| Home solar panel | 250 - 400 W each |
| Microwave oven | 1,000 W (1 kW) |
| Hair dryer | 1,500 W |
| Typical home (average draw) | 1 - 3 kW |
| Electric car motor (Tesla Model 3) | ~192 kW (257 hp) |
| Nuclear power plant | ~1,000 MW (1 GW) |
When to use this
You are comparing a European car rated at 150 kW with an American car rated at 200 horsepower and want to know which actually has more power. Or you are sizing a generator and need to convert between watts, kilowatts, and BTU/hr to match the generator specs with your appliance requirements. Power conversion is essential in automotive, electrical engineering, HVAC, and any context where the rate of energy delivery is measured in different unit systems.
The most commonly searched power conversions are watts to horsepower, kilowatts to horsepower, and watts to BTU/hr. The watt is the SI unit of power — it equals one joule per second. This converter handles watts, kilowatts, megawatts, mechanical horsepower, metric horsepower, and BTU per hour.
Good to know
1 horsepower is about 746 watts. More precisely, 1 mechanical (imperial) horsepower = 745.7 watts. Metric horsepower (PS, used in Europe and Japan) is slightly different: 1 PS = 735.5 watts. When a European car says "150 PS," that is about 148 hp in US terms — a small but real difference.
James Watt invented the unit to sell steam engines. He compared his engines to draft horses and calculated that a horse could sustain about 33,000 foot-pounds of work per minute. That became the definition of one horsepower. The irony is that actual horses can sustain only about 0.7 horsepower over a working day — Watt was generous in his estimate to make his engines look good by comparison.
BTU/hr is the standard for HVAC. Air conditioners, furnaces, and water heaters are rated in BTU per hour. A typical window AC unit produces 5,000–12,000 BTU/hr, while a central AC system runs 24,000–60,000 BTU/hr. To convert to watts, divide BTU/hr by 3.412.
Quick Reference
| From | To | Multiply By |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Watt | BTU/hr | 3.412 |
| 1 Kilowatt | Horsepower (mech) | 1.341 |
| 1 Horsepower (mech) | Watts | 745.7 |
| 1 Horsepower (mech) | Kilowatts | 0.7457 |
| 1 Metric HP (PS) | Watts | 735.5 |
| 1 BTU/hr | Watts | 0.2931 |
| 1 Megawatt | Horsepower | 1,341 |
| 1 Kilowatt | BTU/hr | 3,412 |