Electric vehicle and method for controlling the same

An electric wheelchair (11) includes a body portion (12), an operating section (13) to detect an operation by an operator, an obstacle sensor (14) to detect an obstacle existing in the vicinity of the body portion (12), an obstacle determination section (15) to form a search region (21) extending from the body portion (12) in an operating direction, and to determine an obstacle existing in the search region (21), as the obstacle to be avoided, a virtual repulsive force calculation section (16) to calculate a virtual repulsive force to move the body portion away from the obstacle determined by the obstacle determination section, a resultant force calculation section (17) to calculate a resultant force composed of an operating force and the virtual repulsive force, and a control section (18) to control a movement of the body portion so that the body portion is moved in a direction of the resultant force.