What is torque in cars/vehicles? And why do pickups have such low hp but alot of torque?
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“Torque,” in general, is a measure of force applied to a rotating object. In the case of a car, the rotating object is the drive shaft, what comes out of the engine and transfers force to the wheels.
High torque means you can overcome a lot of resistance to motion; in the case of a pickup truck, that resistance is what you have piled in the flatbed or what you’re towing behind you. A vehicle that doesn’t have enough torque won’t be able to move if it’s loaded too heavily.
*Horsepower,* as the name implies, is a measure of power — work over time. In cars, it’s measured by multiplying engine torque by RPM — revolutions per minute, or how fast the drive shaft is spinning. If you have high torque, but your engine isn’t spinning very fast, you’ll end up with lower horsepower.
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