IIT Guwahati becomes the first IIT to introduce MS (Research) programme in E-mobility
Guwahati: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati has introduced a new programme, MS (Research) in E-mobility. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of the curriculum, the programme is being jointly offered by the Departments of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from the coming academic year (2020-2021). The admission procedure will start from 15th June 2020.
The government has launched schemes and incentives to promote electric mobility in the country. The adoption of EVs has opened new opportunities. Thus, it is 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 Institute has launched this unique programme in e-mobility. The aim of the Institute is to develop a world-class 2-years MS (Research) programme that is relevant to the needs of the country.
Speaking about the unique programme, Prof. T. G. 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. 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.
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; and, Energy Storage and Conversion.
Talking about the programme, Prof. 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.”
Talking about the opportunities that the programme will bring, Prof. Santosha K. Dwivedy, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, added, “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, through this blend of theory and laboratory experiments, the students will have well-rounded exposure to the EV technology and upon graduation can contribute to the industry. Besides the theory and the laboratory courses, 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.
Talking about the need for this programme, Prof. Rohit Sinha, Head of the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, IIT Guwahati, said, “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.”
The Institute will also regularly conduct sessions and seminars delivered by industry experts. The aim behind these sessions is to make the students aware of the state-of-the-art in the EV technology and foster industrial problem-solving skill in them. The students will be provided with top-level computational and experimental facilities to execute the project work.