Why does farming equipment require such low horsepower compared to your average car?

Question

Why does farming equipment require such low horsepower compared to your average car?

In: 114

Answer 1

Torque is the actual power of the engine. Horsepower is the rate at which it is produced. Farm equipment is slow, so with a relatively “weak”, low Horsepower, high torque engine, you can get a lot of work done. Heavy flywheel, low revs, almost always diesel, which are big heavy engines with a lot of torque. The right gearbox and the job’s done. Nobody’s winning any races in a tractor but it can certainly pull a load.