Convert Kilowatts to Horsepower
Convert Kilowatts to Horsepower instantly. 1 Kilowatt (kW) equals 1.341 Horsepower (hp).
Kilowatts to Horsepower conversion table
| Kilowatts (kW) | Horsepower (hp) |
|---|---|
| 1 kW | 1.341 hp |
| 2 kW | 2.682 hp |
| 3 kW | 4.0231 hp |
| 5 kW | 6.7051 hp |
| 10 kW | 13.4102 hp |
| 20 kW | 26.8204 hp |
| 50 kW | 67.0511 hp |
| 100 kW | 134.1022 hp |
| 500 kW | 670.511 hp |
| 1,000 kW | 1,341.02 hp |
1 Kilowatt = 1.341 Horsepower · multiply Kilowatts by 1.341
About converting Kilowatts to Horsepower
Kilowatts (kW) and Horsepower (hp) are both units of power, so converting between them is a single multiplication: multiply your Kilowatts figure by 1.341. Ten Kilowatts comes to 13.4102 Horsepower, and a hundred works out at 134.1022 Horsepower.
Rule of thumb: going from Kilowatts to Horsepower multiplies, so the figure always grows — one Kilowatt is already 1.341 Horsepower. If your answer came out smaller, you have the conversion the wrong way round.
What is a Kilowatt?
A kilowatt is a thousand watts, the size at which power stops being about gadgets and starts being about infrastructure. It rates the things in a house that actually move the meter — kettles, ovens, showers, heat pumps, immersion heaters — and it is the unit of EV charging, where the kilowatt figure sets how fast a car charges while the battery’s kilowatt-hours set how far it goes. It is also the legal unit of engine power in the European Union: manufacturers must state kW on a vehicle’s paperwork, even though the marketing beside it still leads with horsepower.
What is a Horsepower?
Horsepower is a marketing unit that became a standard. James Watt devised it to sell steam engines to mine owners who had never bought an engine but had bought plenty of horses: by measuring what a draught horse could actually lift over a working day, he could quote an engine as worth so many horses and let the buyer do the arithmetic. Mechanical or imperial horsepower is defined as exactly 550 foot-pounds-force per second, which is why it lands on no tidy figure in watts. Two and a half centuries after the horses left, it is still how cars, outboards and lawn tractors are advertised.
To put both in perspective: an electric kettle draws a couple of kilowatts, while a family hatchback makes something like 120 horsepower.
The converter above updates as you type, and the table lists common values for quick reference. Need the opposite direction? Use the Horsepower to Kilowatts converter, or browse all Power converters.
Frequently asked questions
How many Horsepower are in one Kilowatt?
There are 1.341 Horsepower in one Kilowatt.
How do I convert Kilowatts to Horsepower?
Multiply the number of Kilowatts by 1.341. For example, 10 Kilowatts = 13.4102 Horsepower.
What is 100 Kilowatts in Horsepower?
100 Kilowatts is equal to 134.1022 Horsepower.
How do I convert Horsepower to Kilowatts?
Multiply the Horsepower value by 0.7457 (or divide by 1.341).
Is this Kilowatts to Horsepower conversion exact?
The definition is exact — Kilowatts and Horsepower are both fixed against the same base by international agreement — but the decimal shown here is rounded for readability, because the true ratio does not terminate. For engineering or scientific work, carry more decimal places than this page displays.
What is a Kilowatt?
A kilowatt is a thousand watts, the size at which power stops being about gadgets and starts being about infrastructure. It rates the things in a house that actually move the meter — kettles, ovens, showers, heat pumps, immersion heaters — and it is the unit of EV charging, where the kilowatt figure sets how fast a car charges while the battery’s kilowatt-hours set how far it goes. It is also the legal unit of engine power in the European Union: manufacturers must state kW on a vehicle’s paperwork, even though the marketing beside it still leads with horsepower.
What is a Horsepower?
Horsepower is a marketing unit that became a standard. James Watt devised it to sell steam engines to mine owners who had never bought an engine but had bought plenty of horses: by measuring what a draught horse could actually lift over a working day, he could quote an engine as worth so many horses and let the buyer do the arithmetic. Mechanical or imperial horsepower is defined as exactly 550 foot-pounds-force per second, which is why it lands on no tidy figure in watts. Two and a half centuries after the horses left, it is still how cars, outboards and lawn tractors are advertised.