Why Motor rated in kW instead of kVA.

Question : Why Motor rated in kW instead of kVA.

Answer : We know that The rating of Transformer may be expressed in kVA, also Generator and Alternator may be rated in kVA but Designer doesn’t know the actual consumer power factor while manufacturing transformers and generators i.e. the P.F (Power factor) of Transformer and Generator/Alternator depends on the nature of connected load such as resistive load, capacitive load, and inductive load as Motors, etc. But Motor has fixed Power factor, i.e. motor has defined power factor and the rating has been mentioned in KW on Motor nameplate data table. That’s why we are rated Motor in kW or HP (kilowatts/ Horsepower) instead of kVA.

In addition to it, We Know that Motor is a device which converts Electrical power into Mechanical power. In this case, the load is not electrical, but mechanical (Motor’s Output) and we take into the account only active power which has to be converted into mechanical load. Moreover, the motor power factor does not depend on the load and it works on any P.F because of its design.