Victor Wouk
| Victor Wouk | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 27, 1919 New York, NY |
| Died | May 19, 2005 (aged 86) New York, NY |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology, Columbia University |
| Known for | Pioneer in the development of electric and hybrid vehicles |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Electrical Engineer |
| Institutions | Westinghouse |
Victor Wouk (/ˈwoʊk/; April 27, 1919 – May 19, 2005) was an American scientist. He was the pioneer in the development of electric and hybrid vehicles.
Victor Wouk, the brother of writer Herman Wouk, was born in New York City in 1919. He earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1939 and received his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1942. His dissertation was Static electricity generated during the distribution of gasoline.
Wouk organized a company, Beta Electric, and in 1956, sold it only to form a new one, the Electronic Energy Conversion Corporation (EECC). In 1960, he designed smaller and higher-efficiency AC-to-DC converters. In 1962, Wouk was noticed by Russell Feldmann, president of the National Union Electric Company and one of the founders of Motorola, who had Renault Dauphines converted to electric power (known as Henney Kilowatt cars), and was in need of an efficient speed controller for them.
In 1963, Wouk sold EECC to Gulton Industries and continued his work with them. Because the domestic Big Three automakers (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) had their own electric car programs, the much smaller American Motors Corporation (AMC) partnered with Gulton to develop a new battery based car using lithium and the advanced speed controller designed by Wouk. The running prototype was a 1969 Rambler American station wagon converted from AMC's gasoline 290 cu in (4.8 L) V8 engine, to an all-electric car. Power consisted of 160 Gulton nickel–cadmium batteries, each rated at 75 ampere-hours, and controlled through Wouk designed electronics. It had good acceleration, but relying on batteries alone limited the car's range.
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