IIT Guwahati launches Masters programme in e-mobility

One of India's premier institutions, the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) has introduced a new masters programme, MS (research) in e-mobility. The programme is being jointly offered by the Departments of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the 2020-2021 academic year. The admission procedure will start from June 15, 2020.
Interestingly, IIT-G has also been ranked the seventh in 2020 by the National Institutional Ranking Framework. This ranking was released by Union HRD Minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal.

IIT-G says the government has launched schemes and incentives to promote electric mobility in the country, and the adoption of EVs has opened new opportunities. It thus becomes imperative to be prepared to extract maximum out of this unique opportunity. A significant step towards the preparedness is training the next generation in EV technology. To address this, the IIT-G has launched this unique programme in e-mobility. The institute aims to develop a world-class 2-year MS (Research) programme that is relevant to the needs of the country.

Speaking about the unique programme, Professor TG Sitharam, director, IIT Guwahati said, “IIT Guwahati is looking forward to fostering interactions with the industry in frontier technologies, including introducing courses on EV and e-mobility technologies, such that highly trained manpower is readily available to work in these interdisciplinary areas and the country keeps pace with the global trend of competitiveness.”

The Institute is offering a total of 20 seats for the programme, wherein 10 seats are for the students who have completed their B-Tech in Electrical Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Production Engineering. The other 10 seats are for the industry-sponsored candidates. The selection of industry-sponsored candidates will be through a written test and/or interview.

IIT-G says the institute has developed the curriculum in consultation with the leaders of the automobile industry. The hallmark of the programme is that it not only focuses on the theoretical aspects of the EV technology, but one-third of the curriculum is dedicated to laboratory work which has hardware as well as modelling-based experiments. The syllabus will cover topics such as e-mobility, electric and hybrid vehicles, modelling, dynamics and control of EVs, energy storage and conversion.

Professor Praveen Kumar, coordinator of the programme said, "This programme is truly a collaboration between the industry and academia and covers topics such as smart mobility, EV drivetrain design and control, EV testing standards and protocols, charging infrastructure and V2G, among other topics."

Professor Santosha K Dwivedy, head of the department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwahati added that, "This programme will give an opportunity to the students and professional engineers to develop the skills related to design, development, manufacturing and maintenance of electric vehicles and their components using the state-of-the-art techniques."

The Institute believes that the students will have well-rounded exposure to the EV technology through this blend of theory and laboratory experiments. Besides these, the programme has dedicated three semesters to project work. During these three semesters, the students will execute projects related to EV technology such as drivetrain design, control systems, battery management systems, V2G, autonomous vehicles, among others.

Professor Rohit Sinha, head of the department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering IIT Guwahati pointed out that, "Within one decade, the nation is projected to adopt the EV culture in a big way. Thus, it is high time for young engineers to join this exciting technological revolution and reap fulfilling career opportunities. I'm confident that this new MS programme will help them realise their dreams."

In addition, IIT-G will also conduct sessions and seminars  by industry experts on the topic to make the students aware of the state-of-the-art in the EV technology and foster industrial problem-solving skill in them.