All language subtitles for Modern.Marvels.S22E04.Maximum.Horsepower.1080p.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H264-BTN_track3_[eng]

[car engine revving]

- [Narrator] From
a fire-breathing

fastest cars on land,

[car engine revving]

and some of the most
extreme engines on water,

to the cutting edge technology

of today's hybrid automobiles,

horsepower has defined the
way we move for two centuries.

Is there really the power of
200 horses under your hood?

Find out now, as we rev
up our maximum horsepower

on "Modern Marvels."

[car engine revving]

[upbeat music]

[exhaust pipe powering]

For some, faster has
always been better.

[exhaust pipe powering]

- Speed's very addictive.

It can make you do things
that some normal people

wouldn't wanna do.

- When they step on
the accelerator pedal,

[car engine revving]

they want the vehicle to move.

They want it to go fast.

They want a feel
of raw horsepower.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] And nowhere can
you find more raw horsepower

than on a Sunday afternoon
at the Drag strip.

[car engine revving]

These are among the fastest
accelerating vehicles

on the planet.

Top fuel Dragsters and
their counterparts known as

Funny cars can
walk at the speeds

of more than 300 miles per hour

[car engine revving]

while scorching a quarter mile
track in under five seconds.

They are powered by
supercharged engines

of up to 11,000 horsepower.

[car engine revving]

In the recent history of this
testosterone field of sport,

one of the top handlers
of horsepower is a woman.

Former Drag racer,
Melanie Troxel.

- A car doesn't know
whether there's a male

or female in the seat,

it's, you know, equal
all the way around

for all the drivers.

[car engine revving]

when you're talking 330 miles
an hour, 8,000 horsepower.

I mean, it's such an
animal these cars.

[car engine revving]

everything out here is
about horsepowers, speed,

elapsed time, it all
stems down to horsepower.

- [Narrator] Astonishingly,
once stripped of their massive

air take funnels
and exhaust pipes.

At their core, these engines
aren't much different

than those of the
high-performance

eight cylinder sports
cars on the road today.

The difference is what
goes into the engine.

[fuel pouring]

- The secret to making between
seven and 8,000 horsepower

on one of these eight-cylinder
engines is the fuel.

We pour nitromethane
into the fuel tank.

We distribute it with a mass
of a fuel pump into the engine.

We put the air into the
engine through an injector,

which has got a
supercharger under it.

It sucks all the
air into the engine.

We mix those two
in each cylinder.

We light it with a big magneto,

and that's what
makes all the power.

[car engine revving]

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] Nitromethane is
like gasoline on steroids.

To give it an explosive boost,

the fuel supplies
its own oxygen atoms

to make it burn at
an accelerated rate.

[upbeat music]

15 pounds of air is needed to
burn one pound of gasoline.

Nitro needs less than
two pounds of air

to burn one pound of fuel.

[upbeat music]

This means eight times
more nitromethane

can be pumped into a cylinder.

The more fuel burned, the
higher the horsepower.

[car engine revving]

In one quarter mile,
five-second run,

a Dragster will burn up
to 15 gallons of nitro.

That's a 60th of
a mile per gallon.

If you're looking for a
fuel economy, this isn't it.

- Nitromethane over the years

has proven to be a
very powerful fuel.

We've learned to tame it and
put it into these engines

to make the maximum
amount of horsepower

with the air ratio that we have.

- [[Narrator] But nitromethane
is also extremely volatile.

[dramatic music]

As Melanie Troxel discovered
when her engine exploded

during a race.

[dramatic music]

Luckily she escaped without
injury and even won the race.

[dramatic music]

In their heyday, Drag
racers like Melanie

and Tommy Johnson Jr.
backed up their bravado

by harnessing as much
horsepower as possible.

But oddly, like a lot of us,

they have trouble defining
what horsepower actually is.

[upbeat music]

- Horsepower is a tough
question to answer.

- Well, it's the power
of one horse, right?

[horse neighing]

- Most people don't realize it,

but there is an exact
definition of a horsepower,

which is 33,000 foot
pounds per minute.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] If you didn't
quite get that, don't worry,

just remember that horsepower
is work done over time.

[upbeat music]

- I've got about a hundred
of you under my hood, yeah.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] But you may wonder
where the horse comes in.

[upbeat music]

In the late 1700s,

James Watt was the
struggling inventor

of a new type of steam engine,

[upbeat music]

and also a savvy salesman.

- And since his
customers were basically

using horses to do their work,

he needed to be able
to tell his customers,

"Look, I have a
steam engine here,

that'll replace two of your
horses or four of your horses."

In order to do that

he had to actually go
out and watch a horse.

- [Narrator] There
are a few theories

about how James Watt created
the concept of horsepower.

According to the
most popular one,

he observed a horse on
a grinding mill wheel.

It was something like a horse
on a device we know today,

a hot walker used to cool
down horses after a workout.

However, the horse
Watt saw met resistance

when connected to
the grinding wheel.

Watt calculated that
the horse pulled

with a force of 180 pounds.

He multiplied that
by the horse's speed,

which he determined to
be 181 feet per minute.

[upbeat music]

After rounding up the number,

Watt arrived at
nearly 33,000 pounds.

Lifted one foot per minute.

And voila, he defined horsepower
as worked done over time.

How does this translate into
horsepower for a car engine?

[upbeat music]

Here's how it works.

An internal combustion engine

ignites a combination
of fuel and air.

The explosion drives
a piston downward.

The pistons movement
turns the crank shaft.

The amount of turning
force on the crank shaft

is known as torque.

An example of torque

is when a wrench is
used to loosen a nut.

The more force or torque
applied to the nut,

the easier it is to unfasten.

So horsepower is the
turning force of torque

measured in foot pounds,

combined with a number of
crankshaft rotations per minute.

This is work done over time.

And again, one engine
generated horsepower

equals 33,000 foot
pounds per minute.

[man closes jacket zip]

How do human stack up in
horsepower generation?

[man panting heavily]

The average person
can sustain only about

1/10 horsepower when
riding a bicycle.

Even world-class cyclists
have their limit.

- When we get
tired, we go slower

and eventually come to a stop.

[man panting heavily]

We just don't have the stamina.

We don't have the endurance
of a mechanical machine.

[upbeat music]

- Mechanical horsepower
became a key selling point

for many car makers,
from the early 1900s

with a Ford model
T at 10 horsepower.

[playful music]

[horse neighing]

To the muscle cars of the '50s

[playful music]

like the 283 horsepower Corvette

to today's Bugatti Chiron, and
a monstrous 1,578 horsepower.

The car industry
has sold customers

an ever increasing
amounts of horsepower.

[car engine revving]

And yet, there was a problem.

From the beginning,

manufacturers measured
their own horsepower.

So who was keeping the
auto industry honest?

[upbeat music]

In 1917, an organization called

the Society of Automotive
Engineers or SAE

provided a set of horsepower
testing standards.

[upbeat music]

- Back in the early days,

they used a very different
process from company to company,

from tester to tester.

What SAE standards tried to do

was to establish one formal
way of running the test.

- [Narrator] From its
inception until today,

the SAE has tried diligently
to make horsepower

a measurement car
buyers can believe in.

[upbeat music]

- We look at horsepower.

If a number is stated
as SAE certified power,

that customer has a
level of assurance

that that's the real
number as tested,

and as tested properly.

- Here at a General
Motors facility

outside Detroit,
Michigan,

technicians
are testing an engine

to ensure it performs
up to the 310 horsepower

they'll advertise to the public.

Millions of dollars are
ridding on the results.

- It's a little nerve wracking.

There's a lot of
responsibility involved

and there's a lot
of things at stake.

So I hope everything
runs smoothly.

And I look forward
to running it.

- [Narrator] An instrument
known as a dynamometer

is used to measure the
horsepower of the engine.

[car engine powering]

- The engine is mounted
to the test stand.

It is then connected
through a drive shaft

to our engine dynamometer.

The dynamometers is what
actually measures

the output of the engine
measures in horsepower.

The parameters of the
dynamometer are then measured

and recorded in the
engine control room.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] The dynamometer
measures horsepower

by recording the torque and
rotations of the crankshaft.

The crankshaft is attached

to a rotor inside
the dynamometer.

As the rotor spins, an
electromagnetic field

makes the outside hole
of the dynamometer

want to turn in the
opposite direction.

To measure torque, an arm
exerts resistance force

on the dynamometer hole,
keeping it from turning.

- Out here on the outside

we have the
dynamometer torque arm.

The torque arm is nothing more
than a load measuring device.

This load cell down
here at the bottom

measures the force exerted,

which resists the twisting
of the dynamometer

as it measures the power.

- [Narrator] Car manufacturers
still test their own engines.

But since 2005, SAE has
required that horsepower tests

be carried out under
the watchful eye

of an official witness

if a manufacturer wants to earn
the society certification.

General Motors does this
on a voluntary basis.

[indistinct chatters]

- I'm the conscience
of the manufacturer.

I'm ensure that the
test is run correctly,

according to the procedure.

And that's the certified numbers

will be the numbers that
will be reaching the public.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] With
everything in place,

this all important test begins.

- Everything looks pretty good,

and we're ready
to start the test.

Let's go.

[car engine running]

- [Narrator] Only a few
minutes into the test,

technicians detect a problem

and stop the procedure
to investigate.

- A slight rattle at certain
speeds, which isn't normal.

Could be a loose pin,
something wrong with the prop.

- With a witness watching,

the GM engineers need to
fix the problem fast.

- After inspecting
the prop shaft,

we noticed that the guard
was a little bit loose.

We then made sure all
the bolts were tightened

on the prop shaft, make sure
all the bolts are tight,

and now we're ready to go.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] With the problem
solved, the test continues.

[upbeat music]

For the next five hours,

the engine undergoes an
exhaustive examination.

- Okay, that was
the last test point.

Everything looks good.

You gotta go ahead and start
the engine shut down sequence.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] With the test
completed, the question is,

did the engine make the
targeted 310 horsepower

the manufacturer wants to claim?

It's a tense time as the
engineers and the witness

pour over their calculations.

- It was a valid test.

All the test parameters
were within spec.

We have good horsepower numbers.

So it was a valid engine power
tests then we can certify.

[upbeat music]

- Thank you very much.

- [Narrator] This is just
one of the many engines

General Motors has tested
under SAE standards.

[upbeat music]

They are three-ton boat-beast,
careening across the water

at speeds exceeding
200 miles per hour.

[dramatic music]

Their powerful turbine engines

generate up to 3000 horsepower.

This is the world of
hydroplane racing.

[dramatic music]

[Dave zips up his jacket]

Dave Vilwock holds
one of the world's

Hydroplane speed records
at 220 miles per hour.

[dramatic music]

- These are a 3000
horsepower bucking Bronco.

Everything about it's
difficult to control.

And a lot of times
you're not in control.

[hydroplane engine revving]

We just try to do the best
we can. [dramatic music]

- [Narrator] Since the
1980s, most hydroplane races

have been won by boats
using a turbine engine

originally designed for Vietnam
era Chinook helicopters.

These craft half skim, half fly

across the surface of the water.

Only the propeller is underwater

as they throttle to full speed.

- A hydroplaned is part
airplane, part boat.

On my right foot we
have a throttle pedal

that controls the
engine throttle.

[pedal beeping]

On the left side, we have
a flight control pedal,

which controls a forward flap,

that made or makes
the boat go up or down.

[hydroplane engine revving]

So we're flying the boats
like we would an airplane,

just very, very close
to the water, hopefully.

- [Narrator] Hydroplane
racing is a summer sport.

[hydroplane engine revving]

[dramatic music]

During the off season,

the boats and engines go
through a complete overhaul.

[upbeat music]

At the turbine engine warehouse
near Seattle Washington,

this engine is fired up to
assess that all 3000 horsepower

will function for
the next season.

[turbine engine powering]

They don't call them
thunder boats for nothing.

The extreme noise is deafening,

although it may sound
like a jet engine,

it doesn't provide thrust,
but rather rotation.

- We have rotors
that are spinning

anywhere from 18,000
revolutions per minute to 15,000

revolution per minute
for the power turbines.

[turbine engine powering]

The turbine engine makes
horsepower in four stages,

intake, compression,
combustion, and exhaust.

That makes a very
efficient engine.

[suspenseful music]

- [Narrator] In stage one, the
turbine engine takes an air

at 300 cubic feet per second.

[energetic music]

Stage two, the air goes
through a compressor

which pressurizes it to
90 pounds per square inch.

Stage three, the air is combined
with fuel in the burner can

and is ignited.

And finally stage four,
the supercharged hot gases

spin the main turbine assembly.

- This is the power
turbine assembly.

This is where the
horsepower is made.

Hot gases that are about
1500 degrees Fahrenheit

push on all these little blades.

There's lots of gas,
lots of little blades.

This wheel is just
like a pinwheel.

All these little
blades are at an angle.

It spins this power
turbine assembly,

15,330 revolutions per minute.

It turns the shaft
the same speed.

The shaft is attached
to the propeller,

which pushes the
race boat forward.

And that's what
gives the hydroplane

its tremendous speed
and horsepower.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] But all this
explosive horsepower,

you might think the engine
needs highly combustible fuel.

[dramatic music]

- Everybody thinks that
we use exotic fuels

in these engines, but we don't.

What we have is basically
home heating oil,

which is essentially kerosene.

[upbeat music]

We use kerosene because
they're very stable fuel,

the risk of fire in
the boat is very low.

And also we can
extract a lot of energy

out of every gallon of fuel
versus a lot of other fuels.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] It's one thing
to harness 3000 horsepower

on land, but it's quite another

on the ever-changing
surface of water.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] Drivers are
put to the ultimate test.

- You're essentially an
accident waiting to happen

when you're going so fast,

you cover a football
field in a second.

So when you're looking
for something to happen,

you're looking way
down the track.

- [Narrator] Ken Muscatel
is a hydroplane driver

who lost his battle
with horsepower

in a spectacular crash.

[audience indistinct chatter]

- The boat was going good,
about 185, not super fast.

And all of a sudden
it just starts lifting

and it's not coming down and
it goes higher and higher

and higher.

Probably, it ended up
60 feet in the air,

flew all the way around
360, land on it's tail,

slapped down back on the
water, broke the boat in half,

but it was kept going,
so I had to shut it off,

and I just waited
for people to come.

[audience indistinct chatter]

I felt lucky, lucky to be alive.

[audience indistinct chatter]

Lucky not to be hurt
and still disappointed

because we weren't going to
be able to race the boat.

[energetic music]

- [Narrator] With all
the speed and danger,

have hydroplanes reached the
outer limits of horsepower?

[energetic music]

- Bottom line is, in the
future of hydroplane racing

I see more technology

[turbine engine powering]

more power,

[turbine engine powering]

faster race boats.

[hydroplane engine revving]

- [Narrator] But high
horsepower on water

doesn't always mean high speed.

It can also determine
sheer muscle.

The motorboat engine operating
at around 90 horsepower

can hold your
average water skier,

but for the heaviest
loads on earth,

you need a heavy duty engine.

One of the most powerful
diesel engines in the world

when it first launched,
the Wartsila RTA96-C

Has an astounding
95,000 horsepower.

[energetic music]

This behemoth was designed
to power mammoth ships

like the 72,000 ton
cargo container ship

originally built by the
Cosco Shipping Company.

Manufactured in Korea, the
Wartsila engine is 76 feet long

and 44 feet high, as large
as a three story house.

- I've been working on
big engines all my life.

This is the biggest,

it's amazing.

It's a challenge.

It's a lot of horsepower
to look after.

It's a big engine, massive.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] The total
engine weight is 2300 tons.

[energetic music]

The crankshaft alone
weighs 300 tons.

It's over 1000 times more
powerful than many car engines.

Each of the Wartsila's
12 cylinders

delivers 8,000 horsepower.

- This is a spare piston
for this main engine.

It's 20 feet tall and it
weighs five and a half tons.

Just imagine this piston

moving up and down the
engine 102 times per minute.

That's incredible.

- [Narrator] Inside
the 12-assembly units

where the pistons are
connected to the crankshaft,

technicians inspect
the engine parts.

Running at full power,

the Wartsila would
be far too dangerous

to approach this close.

So it slowed down to a
fraction of its normal speed.

- We are slowly turning
the engine at the moment,

just to give you an idea of
this massive piece of steel

coming up, driven
from the pistons.

When this machine
is on operation,

you will never be able
to stand in this area.

- [[Narrator] However, using
time-lapse photography,

we're able to speed
up the process

and bring the engine to life.

With each stroke of the five
and a half ton assembly,

it covers more than eight feet.

These enormous massive metal
drives the crank shaft,

which generates the
95,000 horsepower.

[energetic music]

The engine consumes up to
250 tons of fuel a day.

It can propel this massive
vessel at up to 24 knots.

A blazing speed for a
container ship this size.

[upbeat music]

- This gives you a
feeling like a car driver.

If he has a fast car on a
good road without speed limit

where you can use
this horsepowers.

So it's a nice feeling.

- [Narrator] Because
of the rising demand

for global shipping,

bigger and faster ships
are sure to follow.

[upbeat music]

Propulsion isn't the only use
for tremendous horsepower.

It's also harnessed to
generate electric power.

When the lights go out,

people's lives depend on
these monstrous engines.

[upbeat music]

Welcome to Waukesha, Wisconsin,

a tranquil unassuming
town in middle America.

However, it's also home
to incredible horsepower.

[upbeat music]

Here at Waukesha Engine.

- Many people have maybe
never heard the name

of Waukesha Engine, but it's
out there producing power

throughout the world.

- [Narrator] Today
Waukesha Engine

uses its Wisconsin facility
for research and development,

but not long ago, this one
million square foot factory

had more than 800 workers,
design, build, and ship,

mammoth engine generators

that deliver essential electric
power around the globe.

Waukesha Engines are
painted bright orange

and roar while operating.

These features have
earned them the nickname,

thunder pumpkin's.

Among these is the Advanced
Power Generation system

or APG 3000, which
produces 4,400 horsepower.

[upbeat music]

- Waukesha Engines are about
horsepower, pure and simple.

The way that we
get that horsepower

is we throw a lot
of iron at it.

The pistons are bigger.
The block is bigger.

The connecting rod,
everything just bigger, beefier

to handle the durability
and reliability

that the customer's demand.

In a blackout, a portable
seven-horsepower generator

can help get the lights back on.

But a bigger outage requires
a vastly bigger engine.

This APG engine is 11
feet high and 25 feet long

and weighs in at
a massive 40 tons.

[upbeat music]

It's a big engine with an
even bigger job to perform.

- The customers that
buy these engines

are in very critical
applications.

And a lot of places, we are
their only source of electricity

being it in foreign countries

where there is no
electrical grid,

be it in hospitals where
if there's a power outage,

they cannot go down because
people's lives often depend

on these engines
operating reliably

for as long as they can.

- [Narrator] These engines use
an internal combustion system

that employees pistons
connected to a crankshaft

much like in a car.

Besides the size, the biggest
difference is the fuel.

Instead of gasoline, the
APG runs on natural gas.

- Natural gas is a
very clean burning fuel

and very friendly
to the environment,

much more so than gasoline.

It's very plentiful around
the world in remote locations.

So it's easily available.

- [Narrator] The APG
can draw natural gas

straight from ground deposits,

or even draw methane gas
from a garbage landfill.

It always has a
steady supply of power

and never has to be refueled.

This combination of
engine and generator

is known as an enginator.

- The enginators are designed
to last for years and years.

Most of the major
components lasts

for the lifetime of the engine.

- [Narrator] Construction
of the APG begins

when raw stock from an
iron foundry is delivered.

It'll take up to four weeks
before the 8,700 pound

crank case and 3,700
pound crank shaft

reach what is known
as engine tolerance.

- Tolerances are how close
these parts fit together.

They have to seal a lot of
pressure from combustion

and there's a lot
of moving parts.

And because you're going
through so many cycles,

it's important that their
fit be extremely close.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] The
crankshaft is hold

onto a computerized lathe

where almost a quarter of
its size will be shaved off.

[dramatic music]

- We'll be removing 600
pounds from his crankshaft

as it's processed on the line,

we'll be finishing
those diameters

down to the width
of a human hair.

We need his exacting tolerance

in order for the engine
operate properly in the field.

- [Narrator] The main
part of the engine,

the crank case undergoes a
process known as machining

in which computer
assistant cutting tools,

drill cylinders for the pistons

that will eventually
be installed.

- We machine off
over 1500 pounds

to get that piece of
iron into the dimensions

that we require for quality.

- [Narrator] The
42-pound pistons

also go through the
machining process

until they shine light Jewels.

[upbeat music]

- These are aluminum
pistons, and we machine them

they get the shiny appearance,

but don't let that fool you.

When these are an
operation in the engine

is a very harsh environment.

When you have this combustion,

this huge explosion that
goes on in this cylinder,

this piston has to
withstand that pressure,

which can be as high as
2000 pounds per square inch.

And that's what
creates your horsepower

that's transmitted
off the crankshaft.

- [Narrator] When all
the main engine parts

are ready for assembly,
they're placed on a rollover.

It's something like an
enormous engine rotisserie.

- On the rollover that you
see on the assembly line,

where the crank cases first
made it with the crankshaft

and the other major components,

you're really looking at
the birth of an engine.

That's where it
all comes together.

And that's where
it starts its life.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] The last
stage for the APG engine

is a break in test.

- It's a five-hour test.

We gradually increased
the speeds and loads.

This allows us to break
in the components.

Remember there's
many tight tolerances

that need to be
carefully broken in

so the product will
last a long time.

- [Narrator] And maybe
there's still great horsepower

to come from these
Waukesha giants.

- Horsepower will
get higher in steps,

but in order to get there,

the engineers will
have to look at things

such as new metals,
new controls,

new emissions technologies,

to get that horsepower up
to say 15 to 20% higher

out of the same weight of iron.

- [Narrator] Although
technology promises

to squeeze more horsepower
from gas-fueled engines,

This is the Falcon Heavy
rocket ship by SpaceX.

Its engines generate over
5 million pounds of

thrust to take off.

Capable of lifting eighteen
747 aircrafts.

But that pales in comparison
to the most powerful engine,

ever built, the
Saturn V rocket.

[suspenseful music]

This behemoth flew
a generation ago

and sent American
astronauts to the moon.

The Saturn V produced 7.5
million pounds of thrust,

which converts to
an unbelievable

160 million horsepower.

[energetic music]

This enormous horsepower

was used to break
the bonds of gravity.

But if we turn the
equation around,

gravity itself can be used

to unleash an astronomical
amount of horsepower.

At Hoover Dam on the
Nevada Arizona border,

falling water has been harnessed

to produce more than
2 million horsepower.

[upbeat music]

- Water is heavy, and when
gravity tries to pull water down

I think about 3,200
cubic feet per second

dropping from the top of Hoover
Dam to the base of the dam,

and most people can see that

that's kind of like the
energy of a freight train.

[dramatic music]

[explosion]

- [Narrator] Completed in 1936,

Hoover Dam stands at 726 feet,

and it's still the
tallest concrete dam

in the Western hemisphere.

[dramatic music]

- It's 45 feet thick at the top.

It gets a little bit
thicker at the base.

It is 660 feet
thick at the base,

thicker than two
football fields long.

3,250,000 cubic yards
of concrete in the dam.

And it weighs in at
a 6.6 million tons.

Enough concrete to
make a two lane highway

from San Francisco
to New York city.

- [Narrator] By holding back
the mighty Colorado River,

the dam generated Lake Mead

which has close to 500 feet deep

and holds over 9 trillion
gallons of water.

- The big picture is the
water starts out in Lake Mead,

high up on this structure,
right near the top.

The deeper down in
that water we go,

the higher the pressure.

We deliver the water
to the turbines

at a pressure of 250 pounds
per square inch.

[dramatic music]

- [Narrator] At the
bottom of Hoover Dam

are 17 reaction turbines.

Each turbine produces between
150 and 180,000 horsepower.

- The way a turban works

is like one of the old
fashioned sprinklers

that brings the water
up the center column,

and then across the
top of the sprinkler,

when the water shoots out
of the angled nozzles,

the sprinkler spins
the other way,

and that's identical
to a reaction turbine.

- [Narrator] A massive
steel and copper shaft

delivers the horsepower from
the turbines spinning below

to the generator, which
produces the electricity.

- I'm standing on
top of a generator.

This generator raised
1.2 million pounds,

and you can see it spinning.

That shaft is spinning 180 RPM

or three times per second.

So as you watch that shaft spin,

you're watching the top
end of 1.2 million pounds

of rotating copper and steel.

The purpose of this generator
that we're standing on

is to convert that horsepower

and the water that's
flowing into the turbine

into electricity so that we
can send that electricity

out on the wires to our
customers in the cities.

- [Narrator] The horsepower
that drives the generators

can produce more than 2000
megawatts of electrical power

at full capacity.

- That's enough to power
anywhere from 300,000 homes

to a million homes.

- Most of our electricity

actually goes to
Southern California.

We're one of the main
reasons that Los Angeles

is able to keep its lights on.

- [Narrator] Thanks
to horsepower created

by falling water,
the city of angels glitters.

[tap water spilling]

But to quench the
thirst of Los Angeles,

California requires
enormous horsepower

to drive water in the
opposite direction.

- It's called the big lift.

And what it does is it
moves that water 2000 feet,

a third of a mile over
the Tehachapi Mountains.

- [Narrator] The
Edmundston Pumping Plant,

North of Los Angeles moves 2
billion gallons of water a day.

It's the largest water
lifting system in the world.

- The plan essentially
takes the water

and through 14 pumps at 80,000
horsepower for each motor,

pumps the water over
the mountain range.

[upbeat music]

- But why expend all
that power to lift water?

- Oh, the problem is in the
Northern portion of the state,

we get a lot of rainfall and
the Southern part of the state

we don't have much rainfall.

In addition, there's a lot of
people in Southern California

hence the need to
deliver the water

from the North to the South.

- [Narrator] Before
a drop of his water

falls from a tap in Los Angeles,

[water dripping]

it must travel
more than 600 miles

through a labyrinth
of federal, state

and regional water systems.

- It is here, bam, that
the water hits a dead end,

and we've got to get that
water over those mountains.

And to do that, we'll
utilize the big lift.

- The water begins
its big lift upward

at the base of
the pumping plant.

- This is the four bay, the
size of a football field

where all the water
accumulates and down 72 feet,

are intake structures,

that's where all the water
goes to each of the pumps.

[upbeat music]

- [Narrator] The electric pumps

work on the principle
of centrifugal force.

As the water enters, a
massive solid steel shaft

is attached to four impellers
that lift the water.

The impellers drive the water up

with close to a thousand pounds
per square inch of pressure

enough to lift it a
third of a mile up

and over the
Tehachapi Mountain range.

In all, this rotation mass
weighs 140 tons.

Horsepower,
and lots of it, is needed

to drive this mammoth pump.

- This is the heart
of the system.

Behind this door is an
80,000 horsepower motor.

You can just feel and hear
the energy that's here.

[horsepower powering]

- [Narrator] The key to
the 80,000 horsepower

is the amount of electricity
that is supplied.

Each motor uses about 60
million watts of power

enough to light up 600,000
100-watt light bulbs.

When all 14 pumps are working,

the electrical power
use is enormous.

- The total plant capacity
absorbs enough energy

to actually light up a
city the size of Sacramento

in terms of
residential households.

- [Narrator] The
Edmundston plant

can pump up to 140,000
gallons a minute

over the Tehachapi Mountains

to millions of
thirsty consumers.

- Because of this motor
and its high efficiency

Southern California does receive

fresh drinking water every day.

In one year,

the United States consumes over
140 billion gallons of gasoline.

With gas prices
spiraling upward,

the specter of diminishing oil
supplies and global warming,

new sources of fuel and engines

may provide
necessary horsepower.

Hybrid cars are one way
to squeeze more horsepower

from less fuel.

- The basic
definition of a hybrid

would be using of
two power sources

to power the vehicle or move
the vehicle down the road.

- [Narrator] A hybrid system
uses an electric motor

to power a car from
a standing start.

When a driver needs more speed,

a gasoline engine
provides acceleration.

With these dual power
capability,

engines use less gasoline.

In the past, most gas
sipping hybrid cars

have shown themselves to
be amazingly efficient,

but still have not been
able to match the horsepower

many consumers want.

- When they get in a vehicle

they're always
gonna wanna go fast.

They're going to wanna step
on accelerator pedal,

they want to feel
that surge of horsepower

under their seat.

- [Narrator] Well
many of today's hybrids

offer both impressive gas
mileage and high horsepower,

one of the first to achieve
this feat was the Lexus G 2450H.

[car brakes screeching]

It boasts 339 horsepower.

[car tires screeching]

- We're combining both
gas, V6 engine power,

as well as the electric motors.

The gasoline engine is
rated at 292 horsepower.

The electric motors are
powered by the battery,

which is rated at 47 horsepower.

And we add those two together

to get a total combined
horsepower of 339 horsepower.

- As we raised the hood to
see all the engine panels,

all the covers that's over
the engine compartment,

and actually is
directing air flow

in and around the engine
to keep it nice and cool.

We have a cover over the engine.

As I removed that,

you're able to see a
typical 3.5 liter V6

that you'll see in
most, any vehicle.

The difference in this is
the two bright orange cables

that is actually
directing power to and from

the electric motors
that drives the vehicle.

[car bonnet closing]

And the back is where we have

the rest of the hybrid
horsepower story.

This is the hybrid
high voltage battery

that contributes to
the engine horsepower

and gives us the overall
horsepower rating

of the 339 horsepower.

This is where it's stored.

- [Narrator] What kind
of fuel efficiency

do you get for your 339 horses?

28 miles per gallon
on the highway

and 25 miles per
gallon in the city.

- The reason we get such good
gas mileage on this vehicle

is the fact that we can
only operate the gas engine

when it's needed.

We can operate solely
on electric power,

which conserves the gas.

Here we start the car by just
simple push of the button.

We may not hear
the engine running

because we start out on
electric power most of the time

once the vehicle's warmed up.

- [Narrator] Out on the road,

a computer monitors and
controls the hybrid power system

for maximum efficiency.

- As we begin to accelerate,

you see the electric
motors come in,

and we're running solely on
electric power at this point.

To get the maximum
horsepower output,

we need to get both the engine,

the gas engine and the
electric motors fully engaged.

And we just simply
step on the throttle

and they automatically
come to life.

- [Narrator] With a top
speed of 131 miles per hour

and a zero to 60 acceleration
rate of 5.2 seconds,

the Lexus hybrid rival most
contemporary high-performance

sports cars.

And modern hybrids have cranked
things up exponentially.

With some models hitting
nearly a thousand horsepower.

Technology continues
to provide improved

and more efficient engines,

but it's safe to say the way
we measure their performance

will be the way we've
measured our engines

for close to two
centuries, with horsepower.

[car engine revving]