After a long period of development, power devices based on silicon material exhibit some unavoidable physical limitations which limit the improvement of performance of silicon based power converters. Power electronics devices based on silicon carbide and gallium nitride present more promising performance as a consequence of their outstanding properties and represent the new development trend of power electronic devices. First, the requirement of the power electronic converters are introduced in electric vehicles this paper, and the development of wide band gap device. Then, the research status of wide band gap devices in electric vehicles was analyzed and prospected. Finally, the main problems of wide bandgap devices in the application of electric vehicles are pointed out.