This project relates to the development of an undergraduate electric vehicle (EV) laboratory program. One of the key features of this particular program is the organization of students and industry and faculty advisors in an industrial type matrix organizational structure, called the Technology Team. This structure simulates the realities of a functioning company environment within the university. Engineering students and their advisors hold positions on the Technology Team. The Team decides on projects to pursue, specific to the development of electric vehicle technology, and then budgets, plans, schedules, designs, and manufactures the finished EV product, analogous to real-world corporate operations. The project manager positions are filled by seniors who apply their work towards senior project credits and cooperate with their associated undergraduate team members within the organization to complete their projects. Junior and sophomore students learn as they work with the seniors, industry advisors, and faculty members, so that by the time they reach their senior year they will be ready to take a leading role and earn their own senior project credits. This EV program consists of an ongoing and evolving set of student projects. As the program develops, new students utilize knowledge gained from previous projects as they move up within the structure, to continually build a mature and evolving knowledge base in EV technology.
