Advanced traction and propulsion systems are developed in order to ensure better energy performance, reduced operating cost, and higher lifetime of future transportation systems like road vehicles, but also more electric trains, subways, ships and airplanes. Such a powertrain integrates several complex subsystems (including power or energy sources, electric machines, power electronics, mechanical transmission) and it becomes mandatory to consider the whole system in order to reach the best performance. IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC) is an annual conference of the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS). The 12th VPPC was held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in October 2015. There were 226 papers submitted and 170 papers accepted and presented at the conference. In order to further promote research excellence in vehicle power and propulsion, in collaboration with the 2015 IEEE VPPC team, a Special Section of the IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology has been organized to focus on state-of-the-art research and development as well as future trends in modeling, design, and control of advanced power and propulsion systems for modern transportation systems.