How many Kilowatts of electricty does it take to run an electric car?

Question

average speed
small to mid size range car

Answer 1

Well, I drive a small electric van. At cruising speed, about 40 to 60 miles per hour, the car pulls about 60 amps at 100 volts. That would be about 6000 watts.
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When I accelerate, I can pull as much as 250 amps at 100 volts. That's 25,000 watts.
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This means that if I did nothing but cruise for one hour, I would only burn 6 kilowatt-hours., and I would travel 40 to 60 miles. Since a kilowatt hour of electricity costs only a few cents, that would be very economical driving!
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In reality, more electricity is burned because of acceleration and speed changes. And about 15% of the electricity is lost to battery inefficiencies. But for most EV drivers, electricity still only costs a penny or two per mile, much cheaper than gasoline!
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Answer 2

One Kilowatt = 1.33 horsepower.
.75 Kilowatt = 1 horsepower. Both are units measuring power. most small economy cars are around a 100 hp (75 kW). cruising down the highway may only take 20 hp (15kW). if you want to climb hills - or accelerate you need more power.
as example - the first generation Toyota Prius Hybrid has a 33 kW electric motor and a 70 hp gas engine (52 kW). if both motors are pulling at max you have 114 hp available.