An IEEE Fellow, Chan is the Honda Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering and former department head at the University of Hong Kong and one of the biggest supporters of all-electric vehicles (EVs). Because of his expertise, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology has appointed him to the High Tech Research and Development Program, a key national project that includes electric vehicles.
Chan's obsession with EVs began when, as a young man, he spent time at his father's bus company in Indonesia, where he saw men working on buses in oily, dirty and unhealthy conditions. Chan wanted to create something better, and that's what he's been trying to do for his entire career.
He began his engineering career in the 1960s, researching efficient street trolleys and electric traction drives for use in underground mines. This came after studying electrical engineering at the China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing; Tsing Hua University Beijing; and the University of Hong Kong, where he earned his doctorate. Chan wondered if the electric-motor technology applied to develop cleaner streetcars could work with automobiles as well.
His ideas about efficient vehicles began to crystallize after he attended the first electric vehicle symposium in Phoenix, Ariz., USA, during the energy crisis of the 1970s. Remembering his father's bus garage, Chan began researching alternatives to gasoline and oil. In time, he was recognized as a pioneer in the field.
"Electrical vehicles have made me what I am today," Chan says. He cofounded the World Electric Vehicle Association and served as the president. He is also the president of the Asian Electric Vehicles Society.
The key to successful EVs is, according to Chan, to integrate a society's institutions, such as government, industry, education and finance, with technical innovations in automobiles, electrical, electronics and energy storage. Only when all these elements come together will consumers get the vehicle they want and governments get the environmental benefits they need.
"Engineers are integrators. They bring together science and technology to solve a problem," Chan explains. "Scientists understand the world, and engineers modify it."
Chan has worked on alternative vehicles for almost 30 years. He has authored or coauthored six technical books and more than 250 technical papers, and holds nine patents. He was awarded the IEE International Lecture Medal in 2000, and was selected as Asia's Best Technology Pioneer by Asiaweek in 2001. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, U.K., and of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the advancement of electric drives, electric vehicles and engineering education.
Though he has seen great technical advances in EVs, he has also been frustrated because of difficulties and barriers in technology and society.
"We have to develop this technology. There is no alternative," Chan says. "Oil and gas take millions of years to form but might be exhausted in the next 40 to 60 years." In China, the number of vehicles has been increasing approximately 20 percent a year. If this trend continues by conventional cars, the sky will become permanently gray, Chan says. "But I am willing to go through this darkness to find the dawn."
