Problem

 1.3  
There  are  approximately  260  million  passenger  vehicles  registered  in  the  United  States.  
Assume  that  the  battery  in  the  average  vehicle  stores  600  watt—hours  (W-­‐h)  of  energy.        
 
Estimate  (in  gigawatt-­‐hours)  the  total  energy  stored  in  U.S.  passenger  vehicles.  
 
Express  your  answer  to  two  significant  figures  and  include  the  appropriate  units.      

 
Solution:  
 
(600  Watt-­‐hours  per  car)  *  (260,000,000  cars)  =  1.56  X  1011  Watt-­‐hours  
 
1.56  X  1011  Watt-­‐hours  *  (1  gigawatt  per  109  Watts)  =  156  gigawatt-­‐hours  
 
To  two  significant  figures  =  160  gigawatt-­‐hours