Electric vehicles 路 Free
Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals
How an electric vehicle works, from the road back to the cell: the drivetrain, EV markets with India as a case study, the forces on a vehicle, drive cycles and energy per km, lithium-ion battery parameters, SoC and SoH, pack development, the BMS and thermal design, and motors and controllers. Built on NPTEL lectures from IIT Madras.
Inside the course
From the lessons
How an electric vehicle works
CNET
Electric vehicles in India
NPTEL-NOC IITM
EV subsystems and the forces on a vehicle
NPTEL-NOC IITM
Drive cycles and energy per kilometre
NPTEL-NOC IITM
Battery parameters, and why lithium-ion
NPTEL-NOC IITM
State of charge, state of health, the battery pack and charging
NPTEL-NOC IITM
Lesson frames belong to the creators named in the Credits below and are shown from YouTube.
What you will learn
Describe the parts of an electric drivetrain and how energy flows through it; explain why some EV markets, such as India's, are led by two- and three-wheelers; calculate the forces on a vehicle and the power it needs; estimate energy per km from a drive cycle; read battery parameters and choose a chemistry; estimate SoC and SoH; design a battery pack from cells; explain what a BMS does and why thermal design matters; and calculate motor torque, power and efficiency.
- Describe the parts of an electric drivetrain and how energy flows
- Explain why two- and three-wheelers lead some EV markets, such as India's
- Calculate drag, rolling resistance, gradient force and power
- Estimate energy per km from a drive cycle, with regeneration
- Read battery parameters and calculate pack voltage, energy and C-rate
- Estimate SoC and SoH and design a pack's series and parallel arrangement
- Explain what a BMS does and calculate pack heat
- Calculate motor torque, power and speed through the drivetrain
For you
Taking Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals from the United States
- Free in the United States, as everywhere, and self-paced: lessons, notes and the final assessment are open at any hour, so your time zone and shift pattern do not matter.
- The optional certificate for learners in the United States is a one-off US$23.99. What you get for it
- Plants across the Americas most often run Allen-Bradley, Siemens and Inductive Automation; each has its own free course to take next.
- See automation and engineering jobs in the United States, and what the industry looks like in Houston, Detroit and Chicago.
- EDWartens also has a regional site for the United States, for classroom training and local support: edwartens.com/us.
The course project 路 about 10 hours
Specifying the battery pack for an electric cargo three-wheeler: energy study, pack bill of materials, FMEA and validation plan
Specify the battery pack for an electric cargo three-wheeler as the vehicle's electrical engineer: estimate energy per km from the vehicle's forces and a city duty, size the pack for the range target at end of life, build the pack bill of materials, carry out an FMEA of the pack, BMS and thermal design, and write the validation plan. The sample pack shows each document for a cargo three-wheeler maker in Cairo.
Sample document pack, 4 documents, filled in for the scenario
- ReportEnergy study and pack sizing: cargo three-wheeler
- BOMBill of materials: 51.2 V, 10.24 kWh LFP pack
- FMEAFMEA: cargo three-wheeler battery pack
- PlanValidation plan: cargo three-wheeler battery pack
Read inside the course and download as a workbook. The project is optional practice, marked when you submit it; the certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Course content
9 modules 路 19 lessons 路 6h 58m
In order, at whatever pace suits you. Each module ends with a practice task that builds on the last.
- 01How an electric vehicle works3 lessons13m
- 02Electric vehicles in India2 lessons55m
- 03EV subsystems and the forces on a vehicle2 lessons52m
- 04Drive cycles and energy per kilometre2 lessons58m
- 05Battery parameters, and why lithium-ion2 lessons52m
- 06State of charge, state of health, the battery pack and charging2 lessons39m
- 07The BMS and thermal design2 lessons1h 0m
- 08Motors and controllers3 lessons1h 6m
Requirements
- Who it is for
- Beginner. You should be comfortable with school physics (force, energy, power) and basic electrical terms (voltage, current, resistance). The course builds everything else step by step.
- Software
- None required. A spreadsheet helps with the calculations. What to download, and how
- Hardware
- None.
Software you need
What to download, where from, what it costs and how to install it. Every link goes to the maker's own site, never a mirror.
Nothing to install
Any spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets or LibreOffice Calc) is enough for the calculations.
Optional
Useful, not needed to finish the course.
- 01Free
LibreOffice
The Document Foundation
- Runs on
- Windows 10 or 11, macOS 11 or newer (Intel or Apple silicon), Linux
- Account
- None needed
- Size
- up to 1.5 GB of disk space on Windows
LibreOffice is free, open-source software under the Mozilla Public License 2.0, for any use including business. Calc is its spreadsheet.
Steps
- 1.Open the LibreOffice download page.
- 2.Check the page has picked your operating system, then select Download.
- 3.Run the installer (administrator rights are needed on Windows).
- 4.Start LibreOffice Calc for spreadsheet work.
- 5.Save as .xlsx if you need to share files with Excel users.
- Choose the latest main version unless your organisation asks for the older, more conservative release.
Official download pagelibreoffice.org
Checked against each maker's own page on 27 September 2026. Trial lengths and editions change; the maker's page is the final word.
Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals at a glance
Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals is a free, self-paced online course from EDWartens for engineering students, automotive and electrical engineers moving into EVs. It has 9 modules and 6h 58m of video lessons by NPTEL IIT Madras, CNET, E-Mobility Trends and others, with written notes and worked problems, a practical project with a document pack and a 15-question final assessment (pass mark 60%). Learning is free with an account; an optional certificate with a public verification code is issued when you pass. Last updated 27 September 2026.
All course factsHide course facts
- Price
- Free, for good. No trial, no card. The only paid item is the optional certificate, a small one-off fee.
- Who it is for
- Engineering students, automotive and electrical engineers moving into EVs
- Format
- 9 self-paced modules, 6h 58m of video, written notes, a practice task per module and one final assessment.
- Level
- Beginner. Beginner. You should be comfortable with school physics (force, energy, power) and basic electrical terms (voltage, current, resistance). The course builds everything else step by step.
- Brand
- Vendor-neutral
- Software
- None required. A spreadsheet helps with the calculations.
- Hardware
- None.
- Certificate
- Optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code. Not a vendor credential.
- Video lessons by
- NPTEL IIT Madras, CNET, E-Mobility Trends, NPTEL-NOC IITM (independent creators, credited below)
- Language
- English
- Last updated
- 27 September 2026
A shareable EDWartens certificate
Finish every module and pass the final assessment, and the optional EDWartens certificate is yours. It carries a unique verification code on a public page anyone can check, so it stands up when a recruiter looks it up. See it below.
The course itself stays free whether or not you ever buy one.
Stuck? Ask a practising engineer
A free course usually means a comment section and hope. This one does not. Every module has an Ask-your-trainer panel that reaches the same engineers who teach our paid programme: people who commission panels for a living, not moderators.
Pairs well with
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PLC programming 路 FreeSiemens TIA Portal in Three HoursThe first three hours of the Siemens TIA Portal course, cut to end on a win: what a PLC is, how it is wired, a project configured in TIA Portal, and your first ladder program running in simulation. Finish it in an evening or two, earn a certificate, and carry straight on into the full course.
PLC programming 路 FreeTIA Portal: Build a MachineOne machine, start to finish. Take a bottle filling line from a written specification and an I/O list to a structured S7-1200 program with a fill station, a capper, a reject sorter and an operator screen with alarms, then test it against a written record and archive it for hand-over. The lessons are the reference; the machine is yours, and it is what you submit.
Instrumentation 路 FreeInstrumentation for PLC EngineersThe half of the loop that is not code. Follow one measurement from the transmitter in the field, down the 4-20 mA loop, into the analog card, through NORM_X and SCALE_X into engineering units, out again to a valve, and back to the control room when the reading is wrong.More free courses: Free electric vehicle courses
Learner reviews
No reviews yet
Reviews here are written only by learners who have finished every module of Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals, and they are published exactly as written. Finish the course and yours will be the first.
Common questions
Who is the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course for?
Engineering students, technicians and engineers from other fields who want to understand how an electric vehicle works. School physics and basic electrical terms are enough to start.
Is this an NPTEL course?
No. It is built on NPTEL's free public lectures from IIT Madras, credited on each module, but it is not the NPTEL programme and is not affiliated with NPTEL or IIT Madras. EDWartens wrote the notes, practice, project and assessment.
Does it cover charging stations?
Only briefly. This course is about the vehicle: drivetrain, battery, BMS and motor. Charging infrastructure is a subject of its own.
Is there a lot of maths?
Some, all at school level: force, power, energy and simple battery arithmetic. Every formula is worked through with an example.
Is the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course really free?
Yes. Every module, the notes, the project and the final assessment. The only paid item is the certificate, if you want it.
What certificate does the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course give?
An EDWartens Certificate of Completion, issued when you pass the final assessment, with a number anyone can verify on our site.
How long does the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course take?
About 10 hours of video lectures, plus time for the notes, worked problems and practice questions. Allow about 10 more hours if you do the optional project.
What is the project in the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course?
You specify the battery pack for an electric cargo three-wheeler: an energy study in Wh/km, pack sizing for the end-of-life range, a bill of materials, an FMEA and a validation plan. A worked sample pack for a company near Cairo, Egypt, shows what each document looks like.
What you walk away with
Your certificate for Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals
Finish the course, pass the final, and this is the document with your name on it.
Verifiable by anyone
Adds to LinkedIn in one click
QR code on the certificate
Names what you can do
A permanent link
Earned, not attended
Learning is free. The certificate is optional.
Add it now and pay only when you have finished the course, or come back for it later. One-off, US$23.99, with a receipt.
Issued by EDWartens, the training division of Wartens, as a Certificate of Completion for this self-paced course. Sold by Wartens Ltd (England and Wales). It is not a vendor certification, a university award or a CPD-accredited activity, and it does not certify competence on live equipment. Delivered electronically; see the refund policy.
Credits
Who made the video lessons
The video lessons in this course were created by the people below, not by EDWartens. Every lesson streams from its creator's own YouTube channel; EDWartens neither hosts nor sells that footage, and the creators are not affiliated with EDWartens and do not endorse this course. What EDWartens wrote is the study plan, the notes, the practice tasks and the assessments.
- NPTEL IIT Madrasthe Fundamentals of Electric Vehicles lectures on EVs in India, EV subsystems, vehicle forces, drive cycles and energy per km, battery parameters, lithium-ion, SoC and SoH, pack development, BMS and thermal design, and motors and controllers
- CNETthe explainer on how an electric vehicle's battery, motor and charger work together
- E-Mobility Trendsthe introduction to how electric cars work
- NPTEL-NOC IITM17 lessons in "How an electric vehicle works", "Electric vehicles in India", "EV subsystems and the forces on a vehicle", "Drive cycles and energy per kilometre", "Battery parameters, and why lithium-ion", "State of charge, state of health, the battery pack and charging", "The BMS and thermal design", "Motors and controllers" and "Final Assessment"
If you are one of these creators and would like a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@wartens.com.