IIT Madras to introduce a Master’s programme on Electric Vehicles

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras will launch a Master's programme on Electric Vehicles to help students improve their research skills. The Interdisciplinary Dual Degree (IDD) course will increase students' participation in eMobility and will be offered to BTech and dual degree students.

Students are expected to enrol in this programme from January 2022 during their third year of BTech and Dual Degree Programmes. The initial intake is expected to be 25 students.

The students graduating from this programme will have the skill sets required to pursue job opportunities in EV Product Development, including EV Integration, Vehicle Aggregate Engineering, Communication and Calibration, Verification and Validation, and Product and Portfolio Planning.

Highlighting the unique aspects of this course, T. Asokan, head, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, said, “The course will be the result of nearly eight departments collaborating to induct the skills required for a student to engineer Electric Vehicles. The content offered is carefully curated to build sufficient depth in each domain, starting from Vehicle Basics and going to very specific EV aggregates, including batteries and motors.”

“The Department of Engineering Design will anchor the programme that will be delivered as a joint effort from various departments. Over the next few years, we are hoping to have more programmes with different structures in the eMobility space,” Asokan said.

IIT Madras provides undergraduate students with an option to upgrade to IDDD programmes where the students will study for five years and obtain BTech in a parent discipline and MTech in an interdisciplinary area. The objective is to provide greater flexibility to students, giving them the opportunity to take courses across disciplines, and build towards expertise in modern interdisciplinary areas that will define the future of engineering and technology.

Elaborating on the importance of such programmes, Karthick Athmanathan, professor of Practice, IIT Madras, said, “These are exciting times for the eMobility sector. We are clearly at the tipping point. It is important to have more resources skilled in various aspects of EV Engineering and eMobility. IIT Madras has had a dominant presence in this sector for the last few years through various initiatives and centres. We are now starting this phase where formal Programs for EVs and eMobility are being offered with very close engagement with Industry. Such initiatives are going to help India achieve and retain the lead technologically in the medium and long term.”

C.S. Shankar Ram, Department of Engineering Design, IIT Madras, said the students will be undergoing core courses that will build the foundation for EV Engineering. “The students will pursue electives in the specific area of specialisation of their choice. They will also do a master’s project in this domain as part of their degree requirement. Care has been taken to enable the student to either opt for Industry Employment or pursue further research. This provides flexibility to the students in choosing their sub-domain as well as orient towards industry and research,” Ram said.

Over the years, IIT Madras has been at the forefront of building capabilities in the country for eMobility through its various centres and programmes, including the Centre for Battery Engineering and Electric Vehicles (CBEEV), as well as incubating a host of start-ups in the eMobility space over the years through the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.