What is the Difference Between Powertrain & Drivetrain?

Drivetrain or Powertrain

You may not know off the top of your head what the benefits are of contrasting a drivetrain vs. powertrain but when you recognize the distinctions between both, it will offer you the edge when vehicle buying, visiting the mechanic, or when Alex Trebek asks you a Jeopardy question concerning automobile components that make vehicles move.

In other words, powertrains and drivetrains basically do the same thing. They generate kinetic energy to make your car ‘go’. Now, chances are that you have never truly considered how essential these moving components are. They’re the unrecognized heroes that get you from point A to point B and they each operate in their own one-of-a-kind way.

Parts of the Drivetrain: What are they?

Many times the terms ‘drivetrain’ and ‘powertrain’ are utilized interchangeably however, contrary to popular belief, they are not the same. So what exactly is the difference between powertrain elements and drivetrain components? The greatest difference is the way power is created and distributed to the car.

A drivetrain is not actually a solitary part of your car – it’s a group of drivetrain parts that collaborate with the engine to move the wheels and various parts of the car to drive it into motion. These parts usually include the transmission, differential, driveshaft, axles, CV joints, and the wheels.

Drivetrain: How Does it work?

This is the order in which power is produced and provided by a drivetrain:

• The engine will generate power to power a flywheel
• That flywheel works with the transmission to control the quantity of power distributed to other parts of the drivetrain
• The driveshaft rotates to create power to a differential
• After that the differential provides power from all those driveshaft parts and boom … your wheels are in motion

What is in A Powertrain?

If you mastered the drivetrain basics, the powertrain basics ought to be an easy concept to understand, because of the fact that there is only one defining factor that sets them apart. That factor is the engine. In a powertrain, the engine is a part of the many moving elements. If you keep in mind from the paragraph above, the drivetrain works with the engine.

The powertrain encompasses every moving part that is crucial to the automobile’s success. Its sole purpose is converting kinetic energy into propulsion motion. If one of these parts fail your automobile might experience some unusual rattling, or shaking.