Why are there 2 different power voltages in America versus Europe?

Answer 1

There is no engineering reason for using 50 Hz 220v other than to be different from the American standard, where it was first invented (by Tesla). It is a market protection thing. If you think about it, almost everything that was invent in America, the Europeans have changed it so that it does not become dominated by American suppliers. Examples are: TV, electricity (110v vs. 220v), telephone networks, bullets, standard paper sizes, etc.

Of course this is all together different now as Europeans have come in there own in technology. Example is GSM mobile phones which originated from Europe. One fortunate thing that Europe didn't change was the Internet standards. The completing standards to Internet is OSI with 7 layer stack versus Internet stack with only 5 layers. Can you imagine using OSI with ATM? Once upon a time there was actually ATM-25 NIC cards versus 10/100 Ethernet.

Answer 2

It is an accident of history. Regardless of the actual merits of the two voltages chosen, the people who thought 220V had more merit established early generating plants in some countries, while the enthusiasts of 11V established them in other countries. Once people started to use the distributed voltages and bought lamps and appliances to match, then the countries were locked into the chosen voltages.

Answer 3

Because the USA has the best way of doing things, and they do not. 120vac for home appliances makes sense, 220 vac does not. Besides, how better to reduce the population in a crowded continent than by electrocuting the unwary?

Answer 4

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Answer 5

Most household machines are either 110v, or 220v. However there are higher voltages that are used for three phase motors, and other electrical motors.