The University of Windsor continues to get creative to support the burgeoning electric vehicle industry in the region.
The Continuing Education department is launching a new online course, the Electric Vehicle Powertrain Systems, aimed at empowering professionals to drive toward success.
Officials say the course is structured to engage learners through real-world case studies and examples drawn from commercially available electric vehicles (EVs).
Participants will work with industry-standard software tools to gain in-depth insights into the design and operation of electric vehicle powertrain systems.
Dr. Lakshmi Varaha Iyer, the course instructor, says the electrification of vehicles is enabling engineers to improve and change existing designs of various subsystems and systems of vehicles for additional benefits.
He says that's among the many things students will learn during the course.
"Learners in this course will be able to enhance their knowledge on electric vehicles, and also apply their knowledge to design various traditional subsystems that exist on automobiles today. But they would be able to design the same parts differently, or the vehicle differently, and electrify different components in the vehicle," he said.
Dr. Iyer is also a senior member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Senior Manager of Advanced Powertrain and Chassis at Magna International's Corporate Research and Development Division.
The course is divided into two comprehensive parts, with the first part running from January 11, 2024 to May 9.
Dr. Iyer says the initial component focuses on building a strong foundation in vehicle architectures, dynamics, drive cycles, and powertrain sizing.
"We'll discuss also about different motor technologies that exist in electric vehicles today. For example the Tesla has a permanent magnet motor, and the Audi has an induction motor. And then we'll also study about designing a traction motor for a specific electric vehicle on a specific drive cycle."
The second part runs from April 4 to May 9, and will delve deeper into EV powertrain systems.
Participants will explore advanced topics like power electronic architecture, state-of-the-art motor drives control, and the design variations in commercially available EV motor drives.
Dr. Iyer says the course will specifically look at innovation and design changes taking place in EVs.
"So this means vehicles can be designed differently, and this course is necessary as the automotive industry rapidly changes towards electrification," he stated.
Both the first and second part of the course will take place every Thursday during the timeframe's established from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
More information can be found on the Continuing Education website.