Customer Reviews

Electric and Hybrid Vehicles: Design Fundamentals

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book is very hard to follow. The author presents examples (and sometimes answers) without outlining how to solve the problems. This is very frustrating! Most of the work in the book is calculus-based which would not be a problem if the steps for deriving the equations were more explicit. The information is very theoretical with little practical relevance to electric car design. The author starts out by explaining generic vehicle mechanics and then jumps right into battery chemistry and motors. Very little effort is spent on the interrelationships between these elements. The author does a decent job describing motor fundamentals, but he does not spend much time discussing the practical limitations of the technology. The hybrid discussion is relegated to the last chapter of the book, and then only a few pages are devoted to explaining this technology. Most of the chapter is spent describing various thermodynamic cycles such as the Otto cycle and Rankine cycle. Curiously,at this point the author resorts to a very high level discussion of these cycles, using very little math to show the effects of the electric motor on the function and efficiency of the traditional ICE vehicle.

Dr. Husain is an Electrical Engineer, therefore his book focuses primarily on the electrical, magnetic, electromagnetic & electromechanical aspects of EV & HEV vehicle design. From this perspective, his book is very solid on fundamental EV & HEV design considerations and component analyses. However, the continuously variable transmission (CVT)... including planetary gearsets (used in CVTs to combine/split torque) is a key HEV component. Consequently, I view omitting their discussion as dissapointing. On the other hand, Dr. Husain's text is very well written/edited and his style of explaining technical details is conversational, yet professional. I recommend this book without hessitation.

Very academic. A lot of electrical theory not much practical advice for building an EV. The book is designed for university students I think.

This book is very helpful for an extensive overview of all the design perspectives regarding EV and HEVs. Very timely book and deserves to be a constant reference for ongoing EV research.

One must temper the fact that M. F. Momen has written papers with the author. Such as "Lightly Ferromagnetic Rotor Bars for Three-Phase Squirrel-Cage Induction Machines".

I have not read this book but rate it as the first reviewer since the other review is invalid.