Project-based Learning in Engineering: Illustration by a Capstone Project of an Electric Vehicle

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Universite de Sherbrooke has developed an innovative learning approach qualified as Problem- and Project-Based learning approach (PPBL), which is applied during all engineering studies. In this paper, we concentrate on capstone projects by first presenting the general organization, activities, deliverables and assessment of these projects. We detail the team academic activities, starting from choosing the project until the post-mortem report, and we give an idea of the students autonomy to learn and acquire new competencies. Then to illustrate the development of a capstone project, we consider a specific project related to an enhancement of an electric vehicle prototype. The latter has two main objectives: to reduce battery aging and optimize energy consumption of an electric vehicle during its trips. It is a multi-disciplinary project which includes electrical, electronic and software development competencies. The project was done in 8 months (two terms), by a team of 9 students, working more than 2 days a week.