Development of an introductory course on the modeling and control of Advanced Electric Vehicles

In January of 2010 the University of Detroit Mercy began offering a Graduate Certificate in Advanced Electric Vehicles. This program was intended as a means to quickly and effectively educate practicing engineers in the skills that they would need as the number of electric and hybrid-electric vehicles being produced increases. The program was initiated with the support of Ford Motor Company who has committed to sending at least 125 engineers through the program in its first five years of existence. A central element of this program is a course on the modeling and control of advanced electric vehicles. This paper describes the structure and content of this course, as well as the lessons learned and what they mean for the introductory system dynamics and control curriculum in general.