Electric vehicles
Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals
Understand how an electric vehicle works and calculate its power, energy use, battery pack and motor torque.
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 takes about 9.9 hours, with written notes, a practice task per module, a practical project and a final assessment of 15 questions (pass mark 60%). Learning costs nothing and needs only a free account. The optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion, verifiable by code, is a one-off US$23.99 for you; it is not a vendor credential. Updated 1 November 2026.
- Free
- Beginner
- 9.9 hours
- Self-paced
- Certificate optional
No card, no trial. The course is free for good. Certificate US$23.99, optional.
- Who it is for
- Engineering students, automotive and electrical engineers moving into EVs
- Jobs
- Roles that use this skill: energy engineer, power systems engineer, solar or EV technician and site engineer. No course guarantees a job.
- Tools
- None required. A spreadsheet helps with the calculations. Hardware: none.
- Updated
After this course you can
By the end you will be able to:
- Describe the parts of an electric drivetrain and how energy flows
- Calculate the forces on a vehicle and the power it needs
- Estimate energy per kilometre from a drive cycle
- Read battery parameters and design a pack from cells
- Calculate motor torque, power and efficiency
Who it is for, and what you need first
Who it is for
Engineering students, automotive and electrical engineers moving into EVs.
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.
What you need
Software: None required. A spreadsheet helps with the calculations..
Hardware: None.. What to download, and how.
How this course works
Watch the lessons
Short video lessons, one module at a time, at your own pace.
Read the notes
Open the Reading tab for the written notes and diagrams of the module.
Check yourself
Answer the questions to see what stuck before you move on.
Final assessment
Pass the final once you have been through the modules.
Certificate, if you want oneOptional
Optional, with a page anyone can use to verify it.
What you learn
9 modules in order, at your own pace. 9.9 hours of video lessons, with written notes and a practice task in each module.
- 1How an electric vehicle works13m
- 2Electric vehicles in India55m
- 3EV subsystems and the forces on a vehicle52m
- 4Drive cycles and energy per kilometre58m
- 5Battery parameters, and why lithium-ion52m
- 6State of charge, state of health, the battery pack and charging39m
- 7The BMS and thermal design1h 0m
- 8Motors and controllers1h 6m
Show the other 1 modules
- 9Final Assessment23m
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.
Show what to download (1 tool)
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.
What you practise
Course project, 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, size the pack for the range target at end of life, list its parts, score its failure modes and write the tests that prove it. The sample pack shows each document for a cargo three-wheeler maker.
- 4documents in the pack
- 5steps to follow
- 3things to hand in
- 10 hof work, at your pace
- ReportEnergy study and pack sizing: cargo three-wheeler
- BOMBill of materials: 51.2 V, 12.29 kWh LFP pack
- FMEAFMEA: cargo three-wheeler battery pack
- PlanValidation plan: cargo three-wheeler battery pack
The project is optional practice. The certificate needs only the modules and the final assessment.
Free 3D lab
Electrical lab
Practise in your browser. Free, nothing to install.
After the course, your next step
Show what you can do, then keep going in the same field.
A certificate you can verify
Finish the modules and pass the final assessment (15 questions, pass mark 60%) and you can add a certificate with a public verification page. One-off, US$23.99 for you. It is not a vendor credential.
Want a free certificate? Do the matching Free internship: 4 weeks, nothing to buy, with a free certificate of completion.
Electrical and Solar Energy
Eight short weeks of electrical basics, rooftop solar PV, batteries and EV charging, from site survey to testing and handover: notes, diagrams, a few videos and worked exercises. Finish weeks 1 to 4 and the final, then claim a free Internship Completion Certificate with your real dates and study hours, and a QR code anyone can scan to verify it. Training, not employment.
See the internshipMore free courses
Roles that use this skill
- Energy engineer
- Power systems engineer
- Solar or EV technician
- Site engineer
These are the kinds of roles where the skill is used. We make no promise of a job or an interview.
Plain notes
- Free: the whole course, the notes, the practice tasks, the final assessment and support from practising engineers.
- Paid, and optional: the course certificate, and the Engineer-verified internship (the Free internship costs nothing).
- No job promise: the course teaches a skill. It does not place you in a job.
- Lessons by: NPTEL IIT Madras, CNET, E-Mobility Trends, NPTEL-NOC IITM. Independent creators; the lessons stream from their own channels. EDWartens wrote the study plan, notes, practice tasks and assessments.
NPTEL IIT Madras · CNET · E-Mobility Trends · NPTEL-NOC IITM. If you are one of these creators and want a lesson removed or credited differently, write to info@edwartens.com.
Why learn with EDWartens
What you get with this course, and what comes after it.
- Free from the first lesson to the final assessment.
- Video lessons with written notes and a project.
- An optional certificate that anyone can verify online.
- Free internships to keep practising afterwards.
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 7 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 topics does the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course cover, module by module?
The Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course has 9 modules. It opens with "How an electric vehicle works", goes through "Electric vehicles in India", "Drive cycles and energy per kilometre", "State of charge, state of health, the battery pack and charging" and "Motors and controllers" and ends with "Final Assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.
What can I do after the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course?
After the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course: 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. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.
What software and hardware do I need for the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course, and does it cost anything?
For the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course, software: None required. A spreadsheet helps with the calculations. Hardware: none. The course itself is free.
Is the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course suitable for me, and what level is it?
Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals is rated 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. It is written for engineering students, automotive and electrical engineers moving into EVs, and takes about 9.9 hours at your own pace.
Which jobs use the skills from the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course?
Skills from the Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals course (for example: describe the parts of an electric drivetrain and how energy flows) are used in roles such as energy engineer, power systems engineer, solar or EV technician and site engineer, and in electric vehicle engineer work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.
Start free today
Electric Vehicle Technology Fundamentals, at your own pace. Add the certificate only if you want one.