What is an EV?
Electrical vehicle is a vehicle where one or more electrical motors are used for propulsion. These motors will be powered by batteries (for electric cars, two wheelers, etc.) or collector systems (for trains). Sometimes these motors may be energized from solar panels or fuel cells.
 
How does an EV work?
In general, electrical vehicles have rechargeable batteries which take energy from the grid using an on-board/fast charger. During running conditions, this energy is used to power the motors and other ancillary equipment (like AC compressor, heater, music system etc.). Sophisticated controllers are used to control the motor, charging of the batteries and other ancillary equipment. 

What is the need for EVs?
As we know, the percentage of the energy used by the transportation sector is increasing day-by-day and it is more than 25% of the overall energy consumption today. In this scenario, greenhouse gases exhausted by combustion engine based vehicles damage the environment prominently. Therefore, it is becoming mandatory to use electric vehicles in place of combustion engine based vehicles to save the environment. Moreover, electric vehicles are more efficient and easy to control compared to combustion engine based vehicles. In what way are they better than the present petrol/diesel vehicles?As discussed in the previous question, electric vehicles have a definite advantage over IC engine based vehicles in terms of saving the environment by not releasing any greenhouse gases. Apart from that, electric vehicles are highly efficient (The efficiency of the electrical motor which is responsible to provide the propulsion is around 90 % to 95 % whereas for the combustion engine, it is 30 % maximum), easy to control and robust than petrol/diesel engine based vehicles. Moreover, since the cost of the electricity is less compared to petrol/diesel, running cost per km   is less compared to IC engine based vehicles. 

Are they really expensive?
As of now, in India, infrastructure for electric vehicles is in the development stage. Moreover, the cost of the rechargeable batteries makes the overall EV expensive compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) based vehicles. However, over the long run, well-established charging infrastructure, improvements in the battery technologies etc. can bring the cost of electric vehicles comparable or lower than IC engine based vehicles. 

 How is this industry growing in India?
Currently, the two wheeler segment is showing great demand with 3 or 4 manufacturers. The 4 wheeler segment may see demand in about a year. Heavy vehicles and buses demand may take a few years. 

Students from which branch of Engineering can expect Jobs?
Students from Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Mechanical Engineering have huge scope to get jobs in the EV industry.If we go through the basic architecture of electric vehicles (see Fig.2), an electric motor (of induction/PMSM/BLDC) is used for propulsion of the vehicle, and it should be controlled using sophisticated controllers to achieve the best performance and efficiency.  Moreover, it is required to use batteries to store the electricity to power the motor and it should be charged and managed (to improve the lifetime of the battery) using a highly efficient on-board/fast charger. Electrical and Electronics Engineering background students are required to work in above said areas.Aerodynamic design of electric vehicles is most important which will decide the torque/speed characteristics of the vehicle. Apart from this, structural/vibrational analysis of the vehicle and thermal analysis of the battery needs to be done where the role of the mechanical engineers is important. 

What are the career prospects of EEE and Mechanical Engineering students?
Electrical and Electronics Engineering and Mechanical Engineering students have opportunities in following roles in EV industry
Electrical and Electronics Engineering:
Motor Design, Motor control, Vehicle control, BMS (Battery management system), Embedded system, Power Electronics design, Power Electronics control, etc.

Mechanical Engineering: 
Thermal management, Structural and vibrational analysis, CAD, Mechanical design.  

What’s the government's vision on Electric vehicles?
Electric vehicles have a definite edge over the less efficient combustion engine (efficiency is around 30 %) based vehicles due to its less carbon footprint, ease of controllability, less running and maintenance costs, etc. Most people may think that electricity is generated from the burning of fossil fuels (like coal, gas and oil) and it will be used to drive the electric vehicles. In that case, how come the electrical vehicles are pollution free? Well, if we look into the electricity production sources of the world (see Fig.1), around 60% of the electricity is generated from fossil fuels. They are placed far away from human populated areas.  Combustion engines on the other hand generate greenhouse gases. Moreover, the share of the electricity generated by renewable energy resources has increased sharply during the last five years which is a good sign for a go green mission. Considering these advantages, our government targeted to make 100% electric vehicles by 2030. 

What’s the basic architecture of the electrical vehicle?
Basic architecture of the electrical vehicle is illustrated in Fig.2. A highly efficient (around 95%) electric motor (of PMSM/BLDC/Induction motor type) is used in the propulsion system of the vehicle and its torque/speed will be adjusted by applying high performance field oriented control (FOC) algorithms using an inverter. 

What are the roles played by different engineering in electrical vehicles?
The role of electromagnetic design engineer and motor drive engineer are crucial at this level.  We know, EVs have a battery stack to power the motor and other ancillary equipment (like AC compressor, heater and etc.). Further, an on-board charger (mounted inside the vehicle) or a quick charger will be used to charge this battery stack where the role of power electronics engineer is essential. Apart from that, to improve the life of the batteries, it is required to manage the charging and discharging speed of the batteries where the role of the battery management system becomes important. In EVs, achieving huge energy density in batteries is important to improve the mileage per single charge where the role of the chemical engineers will come into picture. All these units will be monitored and controlled by using proper CAN communication where the embedded engineer plays a major role.  Mechanical engineers are required to design the architecture and thermal management (for motor, battery etc.) of the vehicle. Overall, for EVs electrical, mechanical, chemical and embedded engineers play a key role at different stages of development.

Fig. 1 Share of the electricity produced by different sources, world. Image source: https://ourworldindata.org/

Fig.2 Basic architecture of any electrical vehicle.Image source: https://www.electronicspecifier.com/industries/automotive/future-proofing-ev-battery-management-systems

About the Author
Tirumala Rao Yalla received the B.Tech and M.Tech degrees in Electrical Engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Kakinada, India and  National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra, India in 2012 and 2014 respectively, and a Ph.D. degree from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India in 2021. He is currently working as a Lead Engineer Electromagnetics in Portescap India Pvt. Ltd. placed at Mumbai, India. His current research interests include the design and control of electric machines and Drives.
Note:Opinions expressed by authors are their own.

Pics Source:Pixabay