What's the Difference Between kW and kWh? | EV Basics

EV Basics explains what the difference is between a kilowatt (kW) and a kilowatt-hour (kWh) and what these two terms mean. Despite their similar names, these two units of measure are completely different. Knowing the difference can help you shop smarter for an electric vehicle, and we'll show you how.
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0:00 Introduction
0:50 kW vs. kWh Simple Explanation
1:22 Kilowatts When Charging
2:20 Kilowatts in EV Output
2:50 Kilowatt-hours in Battery Packs
4:05 Kilowatt-hours per 100 Miles
4:51 Recapping
5:06 Wireless EV Charging by WiTricity
5:53 Using kW and kWh to Compare EVs
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#EV #kilowatt #cartips #kilowatt-hour kw kwh #EVBasics #EV101

[@EVPulse]

Interested in more of our EV Basics series? Check out the playlist right here (new episodes drop every Monday!) --> kzbin.info/aero/PLPSKilVZK-JLPDMm1Re9YtSw40dLPacvy

[@happyhippo1710]

Thank you for making this video. I love the water hose analogy which helped me a lot!

[@ebolds4918]

Super helpful explanation👍🏽 Thanks

[@drock8810]

What an explanation! Thank you!

[@Ken-MrSims]

Excellent description, thank you!

[@EVPulse]

Thank YOU for watching!

[@MrAlthuraya]

you are the best channel who explain that to the world. thank you alot

[@georgepelton5645]

Great job explaining these important basics. Everyone involved with EVs in any way should watch this. Many need the education, but even those that understand the concepts of kW and kWh well can benefit by learning how to explain simply and clearly to others.

[@scratchpad7954]

I have personal experience with this. About a year or two ago, I was eating dinner at a Venezuelan restaurant with an uncle of mine who was in town from California. He had recently bought a Jeep Wrangler 4xe and while I know he clearly meant kWh, he mentioned as casually as I write this comment that the battery was a 17 kW battery.

[@larrybethune3909]

We all need to be electrical engineers now it seems. The poor mechanics are pooched.

[@s-carrshymahdi9003]

NICE EXPLANATION ON KWH KW

[@8016tm]

Very well explained.

[@holbak]

Very nicely explained. The only issue here would be the the idea of the cars being able to charge at full peak all the time which is never the case. A car with a bad charging curve may peak at 300kW but only for a very short while and then drop down to half for the rest of the time. Might be the reason why they have started to list how fast it charge between 10-80% instead.

[@dmdanleaf]

Well done, clear and concise with relatable examples.

[@EnitinEnitin]

Except it's wrong.

[@demoticshadow2494]

Great info. Do you have any videos comparing Tesle? Was hoping to see similar side by side stats

[@EV-Darryl]

Great video. Thanks!

[@goldwheelmotor8336]

Good Knowledge sharing session 👍

[@RicktechCambo2375]

Great infor, thank you:)

[@COSolar6419]

It far easier for most people to relate to miles per kilowatt hours than kilowatt hours per 100 miles. Fortunately many EVs give owners the option of which to display.

[@sreejithm9061]

Excellent

[@jeanlawson9133]

Oh great video 😎 Thanks

[@EVPulse]

Glad you liked it!

[@missella7339]

For the cheesy delivery of content to the entertaining 80's synth backgound music, this video gets a LIKE from me!

[@nsu300zx]

Great vid!

[@EVPulse]

Thanks for watching!

[@craigcole5497]

Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed it. - Craig

[@univenpecalipre]

Ok. Pls explain in 1:37 why the peek charge rate says 150kW an the battery size is 98 kWh ;-(

[@rdlfdrflr]

CZECHED! (From Czech Republic) 🖖

[@EVPulse]

Welcome! 🤗

[@michaelbeargames6155]

Thanks for the clear information. What's the equation for figuring out: To 'fill' a #kWh 'tank' using a #kW 'hose' takes #minutes. For example, the video shows various charging amounts [9.8kW to 100kW to 150kW] and shows [at 3:24] two 'tanks' [58kWh and 131kWh]. How long to 'fill' the 58kW 'tank' if it's being charged at only 20kW?

[@reiniernn9071]

I understand you like to know this. Unfortunate there is not a standard rule for it due to management systems for charging. Especially when the battery is nearly filled up the charging speed slows to a trickle....remamber that bucket in the video. If you enter fast water in a nearly filled bucket you'll spill a lot of water. In battery terms...the battery overheats. Over 95% my ioniq 5 (not 58KWH but 72,6 KWH battery (bucket) the charging speed reduces to 13 KW. When starting charging it charges with 225 KW. In your example...58KWH charging with 20KW will take 3 hours...(a little less with a mathematic calculation but due to reduced speed when the battery is charged over 95% I think those 3 hours are accurate with a few minutes margin.

[@sdfawe-qo8eq]

Hey! I recognize that charging station at @1:26. That's Walmart in Novi, MI! Anyways, the only good spot to charge in Detroit area and still breaks down alot.

[@EVPulse]

Sure is! You'll see us frequent there. The new-ish EA install in Ypsilanti has been pretty solid, but also a bit of a hike. EVGo is such hit or miss in the area.

[@iraklimaxarashvili5803]

How much time will it take to charge 100 kw/h battery with 200kw charger?

[@denysarcuri1213]

Excellent content; excellent delivery. That's why I subscribed just now. Loved the comment in a previous installment) about your retirement savings being in crypto currency! 🤣

[@EVPulse]

Thanks for watching!

[@JD-kf2ki]

Dude is clear as sh*t. Thanks!

[@user-se3zk9ry2d]

Pulling out the battery switch in the Nissan leaf he's like turning off your engine as any Prius c

[@jdillon8360]

subscribed for the Czech joke

[@mskraemerartclass]

would you please offer a practical help: what is a difference between these two companies 1. Each block is equivalent to 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity and is available for $4.92 net cost per month. So when you subscribe to two blocks, you’re supporting 100 kWh of solar energy for only $9.84 per month or just 33 cents per day.versus Versus 2. The initial credit rate on your bill will be approximately $0.04 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and will remain at that level for the first 36 months. Starting with the 37th month of continuous enrollment, the rate will increase 1.5% annually; A 1kw subscription to solar energy will cost less than $8.35 a month** Please help what is the difference between these two offers?

[@esteban1487]

One is energy, one is power.

[@jeromeh7985]

As scientific minded guys we should use the metric system for all; Joules (J) for energy, Watts or Kwatts (kW) for Power and kilometers (km) for range for the sake of simplicity but we still use HP, kWh and even miles in a few countries.

[@reiniernn9071]

@@jeromeh7985 Correct...and 1KWh is 3600000 Joules (3,6MJ). But we should also speak about MJ energy in petrol and diesel so we can compare energy usage between those different energy sources . (On ointernet I find 43MJ / kg diesel / Petrol. Due to density differences diesel = 36MJ / liter and petrol 34 MJ/liter. (And this is a close estimate) Ethanol = 27MJ/kg (21MJ/liter) (For those who wants to calculate the energy in products as Petrol-Ethanol mixtures as sold in Europe.) Which calculates : 1 liter diesel = 10KWH energy, 1 liter petrol = 9KWH

[@DaBinChe]

In practical terms there is no need to say h in kwh. Whan ever some one is talking about be it battery, motor, etc if they say motor X is Y kw or battery A is B kw everyone more or less understands if they are refering to the motor or the battery cause that is always spelled out. No one says this BEV is 50, they say the battery is 50kw or they say the motor is 50kw or they say the charging is 50kw. But even more so the norm would be hp for motor power, charge time for charging, and kw for battery capacity. No one really cares for the actual size of battery nor the charge power. The reality is they just want to know the range and how long it takes to charge and the hp. No other numbers matter.

[@EVPulse]

While we agree that range, charge time, and HP matter more than most numbers, manufacturers and reviewers all make a distinction between kW and kWh. As long as those are used by car makers, there may be potential customers who want to know what they mean and what's the difference. Additionally, it's important to be accurate to be taken seriously. Maybe most people just refer to kW in both the speed of charging and size of battery, the minute a publication starts to interchange the two it can bring their credibility as a knowledge resource into question, not to mention sticklers on the internet who would have a field day with it. But yes, in our reviews we highlight range, time to charge, and power.

[@DaBinChe]

@@EVPulse Gotta ask yourself what is the goal of the BEV industry. Is it to be a niche market which is currently still is or is it to really go mass market and do it as quickly as possible. The reality is folks out there, the majority of them, are skeptical and don't care for any numbers of a BEV except cost, range, charge time and hp. Hell I'm one of those people and I'm on my second BEV, LOL. I still got ICE vehicles and that's not gonna change at all this decade. The lingo with the BEV industry needs to change to a mass consumer market one. Just like in ICE the masses don't care if it is flat plane or cross plane V8 with what ever V angle or bore and stroke. They just care that it goes vroom. But I'm moving way away from the subject at hand.

[@gide5489]

You can't make the difference between 2 parameters of different dimensions. But you can compute the ratio 1 kWh / 1 kW = 3600 s

[@univenpecalipre]

What about volts? :-s

[@Jackthesmilingblack]

By "horse power" (hp) presumably you mean brake horse power (bhp).

[@billcichoke2534]

This is not QUITE correct. 'kW' expresses level of current available or produced. It is watts (volts x amps) x 1000. Current over a line or engine/motor output is what this measures. 'kWh' measures CONSUMPTION OF POWER OVER TIME more than STORAGE. This is one of the reasons EV battery capacities have seemingly been all over the pace as far as range and the like, with the same capacity numbers.

[@EVPulse]

From a practical standpoint, it's easier to take a miles per kwh number, multiply by the total usable kWh of the pack, and achieve the range number. Gas tanks aren't consistent across vehicles either, and efficiency is, in a lot of ways, more important than tank size. Won't disagree with your assessment, especially if in the end we agree that efficiency matters. Vehicles like the Hummer are incredibly inefficient with such a big battery.

[@billcichoke2534]

@@EVPulse Efficiency matters from a range perspective, but also from a work perspective. A Kenworth T680 semi tractor might not be as fuel efficient as an F250 pickup, but can do more work. Since there's no free lunch, it uses more fuel per mile. But it also does more usable work per mile. 2 comparable EVs with a similar pack capacity don't always have the same range. A lot of that is due to how many systems each runs, and how much power each EV's motor uses. In that regard, a Leaf with a 50 kWh pack is actually more efficient than a Model 3 with a 65 kWh pack...even if the Tesla has 2x more ADVERTISED range. Also, the Leaf's battery lasts longer because, unlike the Tesla batteries, it doesn't get charged quickly or overcharged to try to simulate ICEV refueling times and range.

[@savedfaves]

0:26

[@brx412]

are you on Instagram ?

[@BrianThorstad]

Good analogies! I wonder why, even when talking about “popular” EVs, Tesla is not mentioned. It’s by far the #1 deliverer of EVs, seems a bias omission?

[@EVPulse]

We talk about Tesla plenty on this channel. We mention them, and we're biased towards them. We don't mention them, we're biased against them. The purpose, of course, of this video is to explain the kW and kWh difference. Product mentions aren't exactly relevant here.

[@pmuean]

My personal trick to remember all of this is that I think of kWh as a measure of energy mass or equivalent to oil in liters, and kW as kWh per hour.

[@lowtec1969]

You assiduously avoided Tesla .... just wondering why?

[@nikolatesla537]

what the hell are you talking about?????

[@RepresentativeRaborn]

Do you just not like Teslas, so you don't reference their battery pack, but still show them in B-Roll clips? Still a good video, just would have expected comparisons to also a Tesla Model Y or 3

[@paolotanedo1420]

I'm surprised how many car reviewers miss this distinction. So annoying

[@jeanlawson9133]

I am a kw and so am I,,, Ain't it just ain't it 😎 when I burn kwh so do I,,,, Covid brain......

[@jazzjohn2]

Hey, I don't care for Elon or his racist-enabling politics either, but could you please stop ignoring the elephant in the room? To leave off the best selling EV brand (by a longshot) and the best charging network is doing your viewers a disservice. Whether you think Musk is a creep or not, he stated early on that he's commited to eliminating fossil fuels and their pollution.

[@EVPulse]

How is comparing kW to kWh favoring (or disfavoring) any EV maker?

[@jazzjohn2]

​@@EVPulseYou're correct. Explaining terminology is independent of brands. It's just so unusual for a video on any aspect of EVs to have no Teslas alongside the other brands shown.

[@abhilashs.r2840]

lol this guy make and market about EVs and missed talking about Tesla . For sure he hates Tesla or other manufactures are paying you lol ..just an observation

[@Stomping_Incubus]

I don't know how else to say this, but your face does A LOT when you are talking. It's distracting. Please tone it down.

[@godisalwaysgreat]

😂😂😂😂