Electrical Conversion Formulas

Plug in, Turn On The Nicholson McLaren Citroen Nemo

There are a couple of points to note before we explore the value of lithium-Ion battery powered light vans and trucks in a waste and recycling industry operating environment. Firstly, while Lithium-Ion battery packs have largely replaced the old style lead/acid traction battery, they do so at a cost. A pretty high cost.

True, the cost of the actual ‘energy’ used, in terms of the electricity required to charge the packs is, compared to the cost of diesel, practically nothing. But the precious metal mining operations required for the manufacture of Lithium-Ion batteries have a negative impact on our environment and, in the same way that the nuclear lobby conveniently seeks to ‘bury’ the argument regarding safe disposal of spent nuclear materials, the disposal of Lithium-Ion batteries would rapidly become a major global issue if we all used them to power cars and light vans. It makes the point, nothing is ‘for nothing’.

Yes, in addition to the diesel/electric hybrid solutions, prototypes of ‘full-sized’ - by which I mean 20-tonne plus gross weight - all-electric refuse collection vehicles using Lithium-Ion battery packs have been built, but it’s a fact that wherever you look in the waste collection, disposal and recycling sectors, there are probably more light trucks and vans under 5 tonnes gross in use, than there are vehicles above ten tonnes gross weight in service. So maybe we should look for environmental gains there?

The statistics will vary, but if we assume a typical council (commune) operation in a small to medium-sized town has a fleet of 300 vehicles - at least a third are likely to be made up of vans and light trucks simply providing transport for supervisory staff. And as things currently stand, smaller vehicles are easier to convert to ‘alternative fuel’, than larger ones.

There is a wider point - surely, the vehicles we use in the waste and recycling industry should be the best performers in environmental terms - in other words, the lowest polluters - as practically possible? This was the starting point for UK-based automotive design and production specialist Nicholson McLaren when developing a new generation of LPG and battery-electric systems.

If you haven’t heard of the company before, I’m not surprised. At one time, cars, trucks, buses and agricultural tractors manufactured in the UK, were exported throughout the world. While putting together this annual WMW ‘Special’, one of the last remaining independent UK-based manufacturers of cars - Bristol - ceased production. Sadly, even Modec, the innovative manufacturer of electric light trucks and vans, has recently gone into administration due to a lack of volume orders following the banking crisis.

Horsepower Formula | TechCull.Com

Before the advent of the industrial revolution, horses were widely in used in most fields of human endeavor including transport and agriculture. Naturally, when the first machines like the steam engines were invented, the power of operation they provided was compared with the muscle power provided by horses. That gave rise to the widely used unit of horsepower for measurement of power. In this article, you will find information about the horsepower formula.

What is Horsepower ?

Power is defined as the rate of energy converted or work done per unit time. Horsepower is a unit of power that has nothing to do with horses, other than the fact that it has an etymological and historical origin in comparison of machine power with the muscle power of horses. It was first used in case of steam engine power output measurement in comparison with the power provided by draft horses. Horsepower is not an internationally accepted SI unit. In fact there are many units by the name of horsepower used to measure the power output of different types. Have a look at how a steam engine works.

It is interesting to know how James Watt and his contemporaries calculated the value of one horsepower. He actually estimated the number of mill wheel rotations that a horse could make in one hour and by making an estimate of the force applied by a horse, he came up with a number for horsepower. It was befitting then that the standard unit of power was named after Watt. Horsepower was important as a unit of power in those days, as a marketing tool, as it was an age of transition when horsepower was being replaced by machine power.

Formula For Horsepower

If you are wondering how to calculate horsepower, then all you need to know is the appropriate horsepower conversion formula. Here are the main horsepower formulas for your reference.

Electrical Horsepower Formula Metric horsepower is a unit of power that was first used in Germany and since then has been used in many other European, as well as Asian countries. It slightly differs in value from the mechanical horsepower unit and is denoted variously by abbreviations like CV, PS, hk, ch and pk which are derived from names given to horse power in various languages. The powers of car engines of European make is often quoted in metric horse power. Here is the metric horsepower conversion formula.

1 Metric Horsepower = 735.