PECTEA 2025

Industry Forum

The Electrification of Heavy Duty Transportation

Chairs

John Hayes

University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
Dr. John G. Hayes is a senior lecturer specializing in electric vehicles, energy systems, power electronics and drives. He received the B.E. degree from University College Cork (UCC), the M.S.E.E. degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis – St. Paul, the M.B.A. degree from California Lutheran University, and the Ph.D. from University College, Cork in 1986, 1989, 1993 and 1998, respectively. From 1986 to 1988, John held a research fellowship for power electronics under Prof. Ned Mohan at the University of Minnesota. From 1988 to 1990, he worked at Power One Inc. (now ABB Solar), of Camarillo, CA, designing linear and switching ac-dc power converters. In 1990, He joined General Motors Advanced Technology Vehicle (formerly Hughes Aircraft Company and Delco Electronics), in Culver City, and later Torrance, CA, where he worked extensively as a design engineer and technical manager in the fields of propulsion drives and battery charging for electric vehicles, especially for heavy-duty vehicles and the General Motors EV1 electric car. From 1995 to 1997, he pursued a PhD part-time as a Howard Hughes Corporate Fellow while continuing to work as a design engineer at GM. Subsequently, he worked as a technical manager on EV battery chargers and infrastructure. John led a technical team collaborating with Toyota Motor Company to revise the EV inductive charging standard SAE J1772.  John joined the academic staff at UCC as a lecturer in late 2000 and currently teaches power engineering and power electronics and drives. His research interests are power electronics, machines, and magnetics for automotive, industrial and renewable energy applications.  John directs the Power Electronics Research Laboratory (PERL) at UCC. The focus of PERL in recent years has been on industrial collaborations with global leaders, such as Analog Devices, United Technologies, General Motors, Moog, and SMA Magnetics. John and his co-authors received the William M. Portnoy Award for best paper at IEEE ECCE 2011. John is the lead author, with co-author Dr. Abas Goodarzi, CEO of US Hybrid in Los Angeles, on a new textbook for university undergraduates and for industry reference. The book is titled Electric Powertrain: Energy Systems, Power Electronics and Drives for Electric, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Vehicles. The publisher is John Wiley & Sons and the book was released in January 2018. The Chinese language edition  was published by China Machine Press in May 2021. 

Pat Wheeler

University of Nottingham, UK

Prof Pat Wheeler, FIEEE (#41335414), FIET (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0307-581X) Prof Pat Wheeler received his BEng [Hons] degree in Electrical Engineering in 1990 from the University of Bristol, UK. He received his PhD degree for his work on Matrix Converters from the University of Bristol, UK in 1994. In 1993 he moved to the University of Nottingham and worked as a research assistant in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In 1996 he became a Lecturer in the Power Electronics, Machines and Control Group at the University of Nottingham, UK. Since January 2008 he has been a Full Professor in the same research group. He is currently the Director for Global Engagement in the
Faculty of Engineering and the Head of the Power Electronics, Machines and Control Research Group. He was Head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Nottingham from 2015 to 2018. He is a member
of the IEEE PELs AdCom and is currently IEEE PELS Vice-President for Technical Operations. He has published over 950 academic publications in leading international conferences and journals.

Sumit GhatakChoudhuri

Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, India

Dr. Sumit GhatakChoudhuri was born in Delhi, India, in 1973. He received B.E. (Electrical and Electronics) from Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), Manipal, in 1996, M.E. (Electronics and Control) from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani in 1999, and Ph.D (Power Electronics and Electric Drives) in the topic “Analysis and Development of Vector Control of Induction Motor Drive” from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD), Delhi in 2005. He joined the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) in February 2006 as Lecturer (on Contract), was promoted to Assistant Professor (On Contract) in 2008, Assistant Professor in 2009, and Associate Professor in 2023. He has been the Group Coordinator of the Electric Drives and Power Electronics (EDPE) group in the Department of Electrical Engineering from July 2017 to June 2019. His research interests include Power Electronics, Induction Motor operated in Vector Control Mode, Energy Conservation, Power Quality Improvement techniques, Uni-Modular and Multi-Modular UPS Inverter Control for Critical Load Applications, and integration of solar PV and battery with Utility Mains, for single-phase and three-phase applications. Interests also include the development of suitable power management schemes, realising seamless auto-transition between grid forming and grid following modes of operation, development of PLL and FLL-based strategies for system and grid auto-synchronisation, use of adaptive filter algorithms and model predictive control for PV-battery-grid interface, and development of smart chargers for EV applications. Dr. Sumit GhatakChoudhuri is a Fellow, I.E. (India), Fellow, I.E.T.E., Senior Member, IEEE, Member, IET, and Life Member, ISTE. He has many publications in various conferences and journals of international repute.

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