The first and the most important step in solving the environmental problems created by cars with internal combustion engines is research and development of electric vehicles. Selection of a proper drive and optimal control strategy of electric vehicles are the major factors to obtain optimal energy management in order to extend the running distance per battery charge. This paper presents a brief review of direct torque control (DTC) of induction motors (IM) as well as its implementation for electric vehicle (EV) applications. First, the basic DTC technique based on hysteresis controllers will be introduced, and then an overview of the major problems in a basic DTC scheme will be presented and explained, as well as some efforts for improving the technique. The main section presents a critical review of DTC for EV applications, taking into consideration the vehicle mechanics and aerodynamics of electric vehicles. The review is very important to provide guidelines and insights for future research and development on the DTC of IM drives for sustainable reliability and energy efficient EV applications.