I hope some of this stuff is accurate.
A kilowatt is a unit of energy and a horsepower is unit of work. [Strength] James Watt developed this while helping develop Steam Engines. They have been used together for a while. [Still are] -Horsepower at the crank, kilowatts at the rear wheels. Horsepower is starting to become obsolete. Three possible reasons: The metric system, Car salesmen talking bull**** and confused Americans.
Horsepower is a British unit of measurement developed by James Watt based on how much work a horse can do. [Whose horse I don't know]
One horsepower provides the ability to do 550 ft-lbs of work every second. 550 ft-lbs of work is any product of force (in pounds) and distance (in feet) equalling that number.
Applying 55 lbs of force through a distance of 10 feet, for example, represents the same amount of work as 11 lbs. of force applied through 50 feet. The force can be used to lift objects against the pull of gravity, drag them along the ground against frictional forces, accelerate objects, etc.
A 100 HP motor would let you do 550 X 100 or 55,000 ft-lbs. of work each second. It could, for example, lift 550 lbs. 100 feet in one second. To lift more weight at the same rate, or the same weight more quickly, you would need more horsepower.
Answered by: Paul Walorski, B.A. Physics, And Part-time Physics Instructor
A Watt is also British unit named after James Watt and was adopted by the Second Congress of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1889 and again by some French mob in 1960. The metric system originated in France. [A Watt is a standard unit of power defined as one Joule of energy transferred or dissipated in one second.]
infinitepower.org & Wikipedia.org
Here endith the lesson