• litchralee@sh.itjust.works
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    7 months ago

    Their total energy storage capacity is quoted as 3kWh, which translates to 4 horsepower-hours.

    Just as people start to get comfortable to the somewhat-odd kilowatt-hour unit of energy – for reference, the SI unit for energy is the Joule; 1 kWh == 3.6 MJ – here comes the cursed non-metric unit of hp-h lol

    That aside, this was a decent albeit short read about engineering and compromise. Where engineers really shine is when working within constraints, whether it be for vehicles, computers, or buildings. From civil engineering, there’s an informal saying that anyone can build a bridge that will stand, but few can build a bridge that will stand while using the least budget and amount of material.

    • TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz
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      7 months ago

      I wonder why they don’t just convert hph to gallons of gasoline equivalent at that point. Or maybe (US) fluid ounces is more common on scooters

      At least kWh actually tells you the energy in the cell (in optimal comditions). Electronics still use Ah which is useless without disclosing the cell chemistry or mean potential

      • litchralee@sh.itjust.works
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        7 months ago

        Was the mention of US fl oz a joke or are there seriously scooters that specify their fuel or battery capacity in US fl oz equivalent?

        As for amp-hour as a unit, I agree it’s not convertible to watt-hours without the other cell parameters, and many consumer electronics will fail to specify this in detail. In some contexts like RC aircraft though, where the cell chemistry is well-known, amp-hour could be used along with only the max C-rate to compute an allowable charge rate in amps. Neither the cell/pack voltage nor cell configuration is needed here, provided the rating is accurate for the pack in question.