The paper gives an overview of the concepts, basic requirements, and trends regarding packaging technologies of power modules in hybrid (HEV) and electric vehicles (EV). Power electronics is gaining more and more importance in the automotive sector due to the slow but steady progress of introducing partially or even fully electric powered vehicles. The demands for power electronic devices and systems are manifold, and concerns besides aspects such as energy efficiency, cooling and costs especially robustness and lifetime issues. Higher operation temperatures and the current density increase of new IGBT (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) generations make it more and more complicated to meet the quality requirements for power electronic modules. Especially the increasing heat dissipation inside the silicon (Si) leads to maximum operation temperatures of nearly $200^{circ}C$. As a result new packaging technologies are needed to face the demands of power modules in the future. Wide-band gap (WBG) semiconductors such as silicon carbide (SiC) or gallium nitride (GaN) have the potential to considerably enhance the energy efficiency and to reduce the weight of power electronic systems in EVs due to their improved electrical and thermal properties in comparison to Si based solutions. In this paper, we will introduce various package materials, advanced packaging technologies, heat dissipation and thermal management of advanced power modules with extended reliability for EV applications. In addition, SiC and GaN based WBG power modules will be introduced.