Asia’s leading EV guru offers insights into the automotive revolution’s contributions to a smart society.

Before the internal combustion revolution of the 20th century, most people lived their entire lives within a few miles of their birthplace. The switch from horses to horsepower in the early 1900s changed that bucolic picture almost overnight. Mass-produced cars gave countless millions the freedom to travel and explore new horizons and happiness. Today, the automotive landscape is changing again.

But this time the transformation will be even faster, as a new generation of intelligent electric vehicles (EVs) overtakes the outdated fossil-fuelled dinosaurs.

Paving the way for a smart society

According to Ir Professor Chan Ching-chuen, Distinguished Chair Professor of Electric Vehicles and Smart Energy, the ongoing automotive revolution is part of a wider integration of the physical and cyberworlds with the human one. This will ultimately promote a smart society that leverages digital technologies to enhance people’s well-being. Currently, his team is developing AI engines guided by his philosophy of integration of the three worlds.

His “Four Networks and Four Flows (4N4F)” theory identifies energy, information, and transportation networks as the three pillars of the digital economy, while the human network touches policies and every aspect of public and private life. Through their interaction and the integration of the corresponding flows, namely energy, information, material, and value, “we can turn data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into intelligence,” said Professor Chan.

4N4F - Four Networks and Four Flows

According to Professor Chan, through the integration of the four networks and the four flows, data can be turned into intelligence essential to building a smart society.

Regarded as one of the international EV community’s “Three Wise Men,” Professor Chan believes the key to unlocking a new era of safer and sustainable electric transportation depends on a few critical elements. They include new digital technology, increasingly ubiquitous cloud connectivity, and an advanced energy infrastructure.

Integrating people, vehicles, energy and the cloud is a complex process, and requires the development of a host of new standards. “That’s why we have extended the scope of our research, to cover devices, systems, hardware and software that will pave the way from today’s intelligent-connected vehicles to tomorrow’s intelligent transportation, smart cities and a global smart society,” he said.

Infrastructure means everything 

The biggest challenge for EVs is not the electric motor; it is everything else. That includes making vehicles intelligent, internet-connected, and ensuring convenient access to infrastructure that can recharge them as fast as a smartphone. The latter calls for easy interaction between EVs and power grids to make EV charging easier and smarter than refilling it with gas. This V2G – Vehicle-to-Grid –  interaction requires close collaboration among users, the business community and local governments.

“Establishing effective energy-sharing platforms makes profound commercial sense. But the extensive benefits, including safe and cost-effective transport solutions that support green development, impact everyone,” said Professor Chan.

Encouraging innovative business models is also crucial. For example, initiatives like battery leasing allow for centralised energy storage, reduce the burden on EV operators, lower the total-cost-of-ownership, and accelerate the adoption of EVs.

Concepts such as Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) take things even further. Bi-directional charging now allows EV owners to use energy from their car batteries to power their homes. Or, they can send it back to the grid during peak hours, reducing the strain on generating capacity and earning useful revenue. 

Vehicle-to-Grid makes EV charging easier than gas refill and enables bi-directional flow of power.

Smarter cars are good business 

The merger of mobility, digital connectivity and battery technology has turned EVs into a combination of a taxi, smart phone and portable power station. This is redefining both the automotive industry and the ways people live, work and travel.

SDVs, or software-defined vehicles, are at the heart of this transformation. They operate, add functionality, and introduce fresh features mainly or completely via software. In essence, SDVs represent the next stage in the automotive industry’s development, laying the foundation for almost every other step towards the goal of smart transportation.

“The emergence of smart cars and the internet of vehicles offers a unique opportunity to switch to a new, and potentially far more profitable, mixed product and services model based on software. This extends the revenue stream throughout an EV’s entire life, and across multiple owners,” said Professor Chan. 

Driven by ambitious renewable energy targets and significant investments in clean energy technologies, China has emerged as a global leader in the new energy sector. That includes the electric vehicle market, where it has won a substantial 60% share of global EV sales and accounts for over 50% of the world’s EV inventory.

“A holistic approach that strikes a balance between energy and information is essential for anyone interested in making the journey to a more sustainable future and achievement of the goal of carbon neutrality as swift, seamless and comfortable as possible,” said Professor Chan. “That will need revolutionising the supply side, demand side, technology and policy of power.” 

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Ir Professor Chan Ching-chuen

• Distinguished Chair Professor of Electric Vehicles and Smart Energy, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

• Director of the Research Centre for Electric Vehicles

• Academician, Chinese Academy of Engineering

• Fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering, U.K.

 

Hailed as “The Father of Asian Electric Vehicles”, Professor Chan Ching-chuen was elected as a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers in 1992, awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from the Polytechnic University of Odessa in 1993, and made Honorary Doctor of Technology by the Loughborough University U.K. in 2008 for his prominent contribution to modern electric drives and EVs. His research and leadership have significantly advanced the development of EVs and smart energy systems worldwide. A founder and rotating President of the World Electric Vehicle Association, he has been actively involved in major EV projects in China, India, Japan, U.S.A., and Europe.  

 

Professor Chan is currently Director of the Research Centre for Electric Vehicles at PolyU, a cutting-edge research platform established to address challenges in the new journey of the EV revolution presented by modern electric vehicles.

 

The spirit of science is the freedom of inquiry. As engineers, we must have objectives. We need to know how to put things into practice. Holistic thinking is essential.

- Professor Chan Ching-chuen