How Many Wheels Are There In The World?
What seems to be a simple question is hard to answer.
When lying on the bed and on your way to sleep, have you ever wondered how many wheels there are in the world?
Wheels have become essential in everyone’s lives. Without it, it’s near impossible even to ride a vehicle. Cars, bikes, or trucks have wheels to let them move from point A to B.
However, we use wheels in everyday products also. Chairs have wheels, some desks have wheels, and even your automatic vacuum cleaner has some wheels in its systems.
Every necessary transportation requires wheels to support its movement. Without wheels, vehicles would look like humans without legs.
It would make life hard for everyone and significantly reduce productivity in many industries. Yes, what a very tiring world.
However, as the use of private vehicles has increased in many countries, the production of wheels also has significantly increased. To answer the question, we’ve prepared some explanations that you can see below.
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How Many Wheels Are There in the World?
We must look for information from the most recent studies to answer the question. According to several research articles, there are roughly 37 billion wheels worldwide. However, this number is limited to transportation.
Generally, people define wheels as circular that can spin on an axle. Mainly, wheels are used in vehicles as an essential part to provide movement. The functionalities of wheels are generally the same.
If you count the wheels found in car toys, the number could reach triple the amount. Lego cars have wheels, remote-control cars have wheels, and the number keeps increasing.
Counting all the wheels around the world is near impossible. It’ll take more than years to count each of them in detail. So we are left with nothing other than speculation and estimation.
There are also chairs in the office, which can be helpful as a tool to move them around. Wheels in forklifts are also beneficial to keep the vehicle moving to carry goods.
According to a study, Hot Wheels have distributed about 4 billion cars worldwide. Times that by four, and you get almost 16 billion wheels. That’s a lot of wheels.
And about the models, you can find hundreds of types, including classic cars, to the licensed miniatures for certain cars. Sometimes, the wheels can be more than four in one car. Following the car’s design, it could be six, eight, or more. With new cars released daily, the number keeps increasing to the point that it’s tough to count.
With new vehicles, toy cars, and products produced daily, the number of wheels could reach a trillion or more!
Compared to Wheels, How Many Doors Are There?
Although logically, this question is impossible to answer, some people are still trying their best to know the truth. Nobody could know the exact numbers, but according to some estimates, the number could reach around 33 billion or more.
Just like wheels, it’s not easy to count all the doors worldwide. Doors are found not only in houses but also in offices, grocery stores, automobiles, trap doors, closets, and other compartments we see daily.
Another study mentioned there are 37 billion wheels, which look more than the number of doors at a glance. Then again, these are only estimations.
What’s clear is that both doors and wheels play an important role in everyone’s lives; without them, the world would be chaotic.
In the US, How Many Wheels Manufacturers Are There?
Although we can’t count how many wheels are there in the world, at least we can still know how many wheel manufacturers are in the United States, according to the data. Some reports explained that wheels had been around since the 1920s when people used them primarily for carts, trains, or wagons.
In 2012, based on U.S. According to the Census Bureau, there were more than 2.5 million wheel manufacturers in the states. These manufacturers could produce almost 1 million wheels on average.
The Reasons Why There’s An Increase in Wheels Numbers
Seeing how many cars a manufacturer can produce annually, the need for wheels keeps increasing and showing no signs of stopping. Back in 1908, there were about 7 billion wheels. Today, the number grows even more than triple the amount. What are the factors that could affect it?
- An increasing demand (for cars, toys, or other products)
- Urbanization
- Technological progress.
How About Lego Wheels?
As mentioned before, we can also apply wheels to toy cars. If you ask someone about how many lego wheels there are in the world, you’ll probably get a colorful answer. Some would say millions, some would say billions, and the estimation will keep variating to no end. The truth is, no one would know how many Lego wheels are in circulation.
Today, Lego has sold an estimated 70 million Lego cars in every corner of the world. If the Lego cars have four wheels on average, you can get around 280 million Lego wheels. Although this is just a pure estimation, one thing we know is that there are a lot of Lego wheels out there!
When Did The Comparison Start?
The discussion about doors and wheels started from one singular viral tweet by Ryan Nixon. People are fighting over which one of them is more than the other. Speculations began to spark, and it’s nice to see people excited about a simple matter that even they haven’t thought of before.
Regardless of which statement is true, people seem to appreciate the topic and turn it into a lively conversation. It helps them to see little things they’ve never seen before, all thanks to Ryan Nixon.
