How Much Power is in Your Garage?

Jalopnik asked this question a few months back, which I find really interesting. It stems from the article over at Inventing Green that suggests that American motorists (to say nothing of American motoring enthusiasts) have 35x more power sitting in their collective garages and driveways than is available in the current American electrical grid. Of course, this article assumes peak horsepower, a figure most motorists achieve only in white-knuckled highway on ramps and ill-advised last chance overtaking maneuvers.

I sort of like the idea of taking stock of your piece of the pie.  For one, it gives a great, and completely arbitrary way, to track your involvement in the material world. You can also create some interesting data sets. Observe.

Total Household Peak Horsepower

• 1968 Karmann Ghia: 44bhp
• 1992 Lexus LS 400:  250bhp
• 1999 Ford Crown Victoria P71: 215bhp
• 2004 Infiniti G35x: 261bhp
• 2005 Infiniti FX35: 275bhp
• 2006 Triumph Speed Triple: 131bhp

Total: 1,176bhp. A Bugatti Veyron produces approximately 1020bhp (although they won't say for certain exactly how much).  Now for some maths.

That works out to 196bhp per vehicle, or as much power as a factory-fresh Aston Martin DB2. Before the Lucas Electrics got to it.

It also works out to an average curb weight of 2994 lbs (not counting the LS400's SERIOUS diet), or the same as a new VW Golf.

But what about the average power to weight ratio? Well, thanks to the Speed Triple, my driveway weighs in at 15.3lbs/bhp, or about the same power-to-weight ratio as a Cessna Skyhawk. Pretty crazy.