The man known as the 'father of Asian electric vehicles' is visiting Southeast Michigan this week and next.
Professor C.C. Chan of the University of Hong Kong gave a presentation Wednesday at Kettering University in Flint on “Philosophy of Engineering and Challenges on Engineering Education.”
He stayed at Kettering the rest of the week, giving presentations and collaborating with Kettering's electrical engineering faculty in research, laboratory design and course design.
In an interview Thursday, Chan said he had known Kettering electrical engineering professor Jim Gover for "many years." Gover is the faculty member who was instrumental in landing the $500,000 Department of Energy grant that got Kettering a new electronics lab and a relationship with the University of Michigan on the project.
Next week, Chan will attend the The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference at the Fairlane Center in Dearborn.
Chan said there was one major reason why electric and hybrid vehicles are suddenly hitting the market in commercially significant numbers after decades of promises.
"There are several factors, but most significant is need," he said. "More and more pressing need. We have to solve global warming... global climate change is happening quicker than we thought. The major driving force is that we have to reduce our CO2 emissions. We have no choice, or else the next generation has no future."
Chan is an honorary professor at the University of Hong Kong and a Fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering in the U.K. He is also president of the World Electric Vehicle Association and Electric Vehicle Association of Asia Pacific and the founding director of the International Research Centre for Electric Vehicles.
More about the IEEE VPPC at http://www.vppc09.org/.
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