Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF) today partnered with one of India's premiere engineering and research institutions – IIT Delhi – by signing an MoU.

The philanthropic arm of Hyundai Motor India signed the memorandum with IIT Delhi's Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) and donated a Hyundai Kona EV to enable NVH and battery technology research, as well as promote research on alternative-energy powered vehicles for its students.

The MoU also enlists IIT Delhi's Centre for Automotive Research and Tribology (CART) to conduct battery profiling in the Hyundai Kona electric crossover by using external sensors and OBD connectors to understand the performance of EVs under different driving conditions.

While FITT is an IIT Delhi-established unit to foster, promote and sustain the commercialisation of research results at the institute, CART is a unit that actively participates to conduct high-end research and development in the areas of battery electric, hybrids, autonomous and connected vehicles. 

Started in May 2019, the centre of excellence aims to collaborate with the industry for highly interdisciplinary areas of technologically advanced mobility solutions. It draws industry researchers to be adjunct faculty at the centre to strengthen industry-academia connect to drive innovation. The centre has made headway into the fields of power electronics, drives and storage solutions for electric vehicles.

According to SS Kim, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India, "We are glad to collaborate with FITT-IIT Delhi to support the research work of students of the CART. Our collaborative efforts with IIT Delhi and donation of Kona EV will provide an opportunity for students to develop insights for a greener future."

Strengthening connect
Being in the list of Top 50 research institutions in the world, IIT Delhi has invested over US$ 3 million (Rs 22 crore) to set up research centres which can be leveraged by the industry.

According to Professor V Ramgopal Rao, director, IIT Delhi, "More than 20 faculty and at least 200 PhD students are working on electric mobility at IIT Delhi. IIT Delhi can offer world-class resources for industry to leverage. We want to do research that is more impactful and creates a big impact as we go forward."

"IIT Delhi also has a Science and Technology cluster which has an e-mobility vertical for conducting research in this space. Government has promised big funds and also wants increasing participation of the industry in this endeavour," Rao added.

The Sophisticated Analytical Technology and Help Institute (SATHI) program of the department of science and technology has also established a research facility each in IIT Delhi, Kharagpur and BHU to strengthen industry-academia relationship and offered a grant of US$ 50 million.

"I am happy to note that the CART at IIT Delhi shall carry out various R&D projects with Hyundai Motor India Foundation in the broad area of e-mobility," Rao added.

"Our purpose of starting the dedicated centre for EVs - CART - was to bring an integrated vision to work on a complete system. IIT Delhi plays a very strong role in the individual aspects of innovation in power electronics and power systems," Rao concluded.