Report on P E in Transportation Workshop
by Randy Frank, Chair, PELS Technical Committee on Automotive Power Electronics
The Automotive Power Electronics team in the Power Electronics Society held another successful two-day workshop on Power Electronics in Transportation October 24 and 25, 1996 in Dear-born, Michigan. One of the features of this event was a panel discussion for Automotive Electrical/Electronic Architecture with a report from members of an industry consortium looking at future vehicle power supply systems. This activity updated and expanded on information published in IEEE Spectrum early in 1996.
A total of 110 people attended the workshop. The invited luncheon speaker was Trevor Jones, Chairman and CEO of International Development Corporation (retired Chairman and CEO of Libbey-Owens-Ford). Mr. Jones' presentation, "The Importance of Improved Automotive Efficiency," brought out many of the goals of the US PNGV program and the magnitude of the problem of achieving a fuel efficiency target of 80 mpg.
Kaushik Rajeshekara, one of the co-organizers of the 1996 workshop leads a panel discussion on Electric/Hybrid Vehicles.
A second panel addressed several issues pertaining to Electric/Hybrid vehicles. A total of 20 papers and nine poster-session papers were presented at the workshop. The workshop format allowed attendees to interact, discuss issues with presenters, and network. For those interested in the proceedings, copies can be ordered direct from IEEE by requesting IEEE Catalog No. 96TH8184.
Back to the Table of Contents