August 2022
Dear Readers,
As the hot summer is passing now, climate and energy crises are hot challenges faced to us these days and solving them will be our task. R&D for transportation electrification is one of the solutions and it is very wide and diverse. This issue is addressing these issues through mass transit and related technologies.
In the last months, there has been a key topic in the news: the shortage of semiconductor chips affecting the automotive industry. We could further elaborate, but something that I found interesting is how different is the approach of the media when reporting about power semiconductors. Being an early career academic, probably means that I am too biased towards publishing my research and sometimes I do not remember that what is interesting to me may not be interesting to a global audience or it may be interesting but at different levels.
A. Introduction
For safe train operation, it is necessary to regulate the position and speed of trains and supervise all driving conditions. The train control system is to achieve this purpose, it has evolved from massive hardware/electrical devices to software-based methods. With the development of train control systems, driverless train operation has been widely applied. The communication-based train control (CBTC) is the most up-to-date train control technology. It automatically protects against the collision of trains by maintaining a safe distance from a preceding train. For this purpose, there are onboard and wayside control units in the CBTC. The CBTC system commonly requires highly reliable control units on the ground because they have to deal with safety-related data. However, since these wayside control units have their own control zone, there are limits to expanding operational flexibility.
A. Abstract
Owing to the detrimental impacts on the environment (greenhouse effect, global warming, etc.) and the depletion of existing energy resources, the automobile industry using Internal Combustion Engines is now under tremendous pressure. Hence, electrification of current transportation is the need of the hour. The major benefit of Electric Vehicles (EVs) is the contribution that they can make towards improving air quality in towns and cities. In this newsletter, an insight into the state-of-the-art battery technology for the automotive sector is provided. Comparisons between Li-ion Batteries (LIBs) and Sodium-ion Batteries (SIBs) are clearly illustrated for automotive applications. It also discusses various energy storage devices available in the market and their shortcomings.
Electrification of transportation systems is on the agenda of several countries throughout the world, to achieve reduced greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. With targets set by different local and national governments for the years 2030–2050 for achieving a certain level of penetration of electrified public transportation, it is imperative to work towards solving the challenges associated with electric vehicles for mass transportation.
About the Newsletter
Editors-in-Chief
Jin-Woo Ahn
Co-Editor-in-Chief
Sheldon Williamson
Co-Editor-in-Chief
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