The Université de Sherbrooke Stands Out in Electric Vehicle Research

The significant contribution of the Université de Sherbrooke to the electrification of transportation was mentioned by the newspaper Les Affaires in its feature series, Le Québec électrique. Specifically, it highlighted the research of the Canada Research Chair in Efficient Electric Vehicles with Hybridized Energy Storage Systems, led by João Trovão and his studies on the performance of electric vehicles.

This research group at the Université de Sherbrooke is currently developing various “dual energy” systems that are even more innovative than conventional hybrids (gas/electric). To improve the performance of electric vehicles and make them more self-sufficient than those currently on the market, Professor Trovão has proposed pairing batteries and supercapacitors, which have different energy and power densities. The idea is to use supercapacitators to charge the batteries, which would extend their service life. While directly contributing to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from transportation, these studies will enable batteries to be kept longer, which is consistent with a sustainable development approach.

João Pedro Fernandez Trovão, who came directly from the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra in Portugal, is also a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Université de Sherbrooke. His research focuses principally on the range, aging, and recharging time of batteries. He would like to improve the vehicle’s power system with innovative energy storage systems, among other things. These studies are ultimately aimed at enabling electric vehicles to accelerate more rapidly at start-up, while maintaining performance when the vehicle is running at high speed.

The newspaper Les Affaires has reported that Mr. Trovão would also like to discover a new, efficient way of transferring braking energy to batteries, which would extend battery life.

Some the researcher’s objectives: