The University of Toronto’s Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering will launch a new electric vehicle design certificate for undergraduate students this fall.
The program aims to prepare the next generation of electric vehicle (EV) engineers for professional and research opportunities in the growing industry.
“EVs have tremendous potential to improve local and global climates, which fits right in with our faculty’s broader goals of sustainability and environmental considerations,” says Professor Dionne Aleman, the faculty’s associate dean of cross-disciplinary programs.
“From battery design to sustainability to infrastructure, engineering is a big part of advancing EV technology. We want engineering students to be able to hit the ground running in this exciting and growing field if they want careers in electrification.”
The widespread adoption of EVs has come into greater focus as governments across the globe develop new policies to achieve net-zero emissions goals by 2050. In Canada, the federal government has set a zero-emissions vehicle sales target by 2035, which will require all new cars, trucks and SUVs to be battery operated.
To meet this demand, the EV industry will require a workforce that can advance all facets of electrification technology, from vehicle design and charging technologies, to battery capacity and thermal management of power systems. This work is multidisciplinary, spanning mechanical, electrical, chemical, industrial, computer and materials science engineering.
While many U of T Engineering courses include aspects of EV design, the faculty has delved deeper into EV-focused topics in the past year with two graduate-level courses in electric vehicle systems and thermal science.