On Nov. 9th, 2019, Prof. C.C. Chan was awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star Medal from the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in recognition of his long and meritorious public and social service, particularly his outstanding contribution in promotion of green transportation and smart energy, and dedication to higher education and engineering profession to promote Hong Kong as an international innovation hub.
Prof. Chan's work is directly involved in the forefront of electric vehicle and smart energy development, and had a significant impact on energy, environment and mobility leading to long term sustainability. His major contributions include engineering philosophy of electric vehicles and energy systems, theoretical correlation between energy and information, analysis and optimization of electric machines, power electronic devices, converters, and cooling systems. He has written over 450 technical papers and 17 books including an encyclopedia. He has been granted 10 patents, which are licensed by various Japanese and Chinese industries. He is the founder of the World Electric Vehicle Association. He recently founded Academician C.C. Chan International Innovation Cooperation Center aiming to effectively promote original innovations and speed up their commercialization success. The philosophy of the Centre is to uphold the spirit of Science and Technology Olympic, namely the Integration of Technology, Policy, Market, Finance and Culture for the shared prosperity of the human kind.
Prof. Chan’s fundamental theoretical contribution lies on exploring the correlation between Energy and Information – to establish a theoretical bridge between the microscopic and macroscopic of energy systems, from device and structure to network; to develop the mechanism of energy and information transformation; to develop energy computer and energy bank; thus to optimize multi-energy system configurations based on carbon neutrality, including the large scale application of electric vehicles.
Prof. Chan has made extraordinary contributions to electric vehicle science and technology, which include the design of electric vehicle machines and drives, design of power converters, development of battery charging strategies and charging systems, and Multiphysics analysis of structural, electromagnetic, and thermal fields in various electric vehicle systems. His book “Modern Electric Vehicle Technology” published by Oxford University Press has laid down the philosophy and fundamentals of modern electric vehicle technology, which is now widely being used as a textbook or reference book by many universities and practicing engineers all over the world. He has exhibited tireless effort, spanning over five decades, to promote worldwide development and commercialization of electric vehicles, where he served as key advisor to major automobile manufacturers in USA, Europe, Japan, India and China.
In recognition of his eminent technical contributions, Prof Chan was elected as Academician/Fellow of prominent academies in the world including the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering U.K., He is a Fellow of most prestigious professional institutes in electrical engineering including the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) U.S.A. and the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) U.K. He has made significant contributions to key professional organizations including the founding of World Electric Vehicle Association. He has delivered hundreds of keynotes at major international conferences in over 50 countries. Besides international services, he was also active in serving local communities, as President of Hong Kong Institute of Engineers (HKIE), as Science Advisor to Macau Special Administrative Region Government.
Prof. Chan’s ongoing economic and societal contributions over the past five decades have resulted in profound and global impact on human welfare. He was honored as one of Asia’s “Best Technology Pioneers”, “Father of Asian Electric Vehicles”, etc. He has received numerous awards including the “Medal of Engineering Excellence” by World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), the “Prince Philip Medal” which is the highest award of the Royal Academy of Engineering, “Transportation Technologies Award” by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers U.S.A., and the “Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Prize” which is the highest prize of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Apart from various international recognitions, he was the recipient of the highest award “Gold Medal” from Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.
Prof Chan holds Visiting or Honorary Professorships at fifteen or so well-known universities worldwide, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California Berkeley, Cambridge University, etc. His work has been recognized by many organizations including the Loughborough University and the Odessa Polytechnic University by the award of Honorary Degrees.
Prof. Chan pointed out the following facts. The discovery of automobiles had changed the world, leading to the freedom of mobility, but today automobiles bring troubles to the world cities, traffic congestion, traffic accidents and death, air pollution, none sustainable energy, etc. Therefore automobiles must be changed. The automobile revolution is coming, the core of this revolution is electrification, automatic driving, connected cars and sharing cars. This revolution is the integration of automotive industry and IT industry. Automobile industry has over hundred years history, its body has become strong, however its brain has deteriorated. IT industry has strong brain, they are now entering to automobile industry, however their body still not strong enough, therefore these two industries should cross border integrated, to develop next generation automobiles.
Prof. Chan stressed the importance of cross border integration. The integration of energy and information leads to the intelligent industry, intelligent transportation and intelligent buildings.
Prof. Chan has made long term contributions to electric vehicles and smart energy that is leading to stainability, his outstanding inventions, accomplishments, publications, and his contributions to making the university research relevant to sustainability of the planet has brought welfare to the human society.