Question

A 480 V battery pack is used to accelerate an electric car over a time interval of 9.5 s. If 1527 C of charge flow through the battery pack during this acceleration period, determine the horsepower of the car's engine.

Answer 1

Answer:

104 horsepower

Explanation:

Given:

Voltage across the terminals of the battery (V) = 480 V

Charge flowing through the battery pack (Q) = 1527 C

Time interval for charge flow (Δt) = 9.5 s

Now, current flowing through the battery pack is given as:

$I=\frac{Q}{\Delta t}\\\\I=\frac{1527\ C}{9.5\ s}\\\\I=160.74\ A$

Now, power of the car's engine is calculated using the formula:

$Power,P=VI$

Plug in the given values and solve for 'P'. This gives,

$P=(480\ V)(160.74\ A)\\\\P=77155.2\ W$

Now, 1 horsepower (hp) = 745.7 W

Therefore, 1 W = $\frac{1}{745.7}\ hp$

So, $77155.2\ W = \frac{77155.2}{745.7}=103.5\approx 104\ hp$

Hence, the horsepower of the car's engine is approximately 104 horsepower