In this thesis, a sliding mode speed controller along with the particle swarm optimizationrnalgorithm and discrete commutation logic of switched reluctance motor isrnpresented. The switched reluctance motor has several interesting advantages. Forrninstance, the switched reluctance motor has high starting torque, a wide speed range,rnheat-tolerant capability, and a simple braking mechanism, which make it attractivernfor electric vehicles (EVs) traction applications. The switched reluctance motor hasrnhigh torque ripples which affect the performance of the motor, and it is a highlyrnnonlinear plant due to the doubly salient structure.rnA performance comparison of conventional proportional integral speed controllerrnwith sliding mode speed controller is presented for the 10/8 Switched ReluctancernMotors. A robust controller is advised for high-performance control of switchedrnreluctance motors. The effectiveness of the sliding mode controller for the SRM isrnconfirmed by simulation results. The proposed controller guarantees that the actualrnmotor speed tracks the reference speed slightly faster than the proportional-integralrncontroller. The speed difference between the actual and the reference for a PI speedrncontroller is 0.18% while for the SMC is 0.0002% which implies the PI has largerrnsteady state error. The robustness of the proposed controller to sudden disturbancesrnis also validated through simulation studies. The sliding mode speed controller parametersrnare obtained with the help of the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)rnalgorithm while the PI speed controller gains are obtained using trial and error.rnThe performance of the loaded Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM) is tested and evaluatedrnwith the help of simulation. The vehicle is modeled in MATLAB/SIMULINKrnand developing the torque-speed characteristics that represent the vehicle load type.rnThe SRM reached its steady-state velocity of 570.74RPM in 13sec and also it tookrn4.5sec to stop the vehicle from running at a steady-state speed.