Tag: Electric Vehicles

IIT Kharagpur Signs MoU with Uneverse Mobilty, a Kolkata based Startup, for the Development & Commercialization of Sodium Ion Batteries in India

These Cost-Effective Batteries Will Boost the Rapid Growth Envisaged For E-Vehicles

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uneverse Mobility Pvt Ltd, a Kolkata based startup focusing on next generation battery technology and e-mobility segments for commercialization and further development of the Sodium Ion technology.

A team headed by Prof Amreesh Chandra from the Department of Physics at IIT Kharagpur have been working extensively on the development of Sodium-ion based energy solutions. They were amongst the first group of researchers in India who were funded by the Department of Science and Technology under their flagship scheme “Materials for Energy Storage”. The team has the capabilities to develop energy storage solutions starting from materials development, device level integration, recycling to determination of carbon footprint of the complete process.

Advantages of using this technology:

  • The Sodium-ion batteries will be 30 to 40% less expensive compared to lithium-ion technology
  • There will be a 100% indigenous supply chain where import of raw materials will not be required
  • There will be low carbon footprint
  • These products will not be dependent on mining of raw materials for electrodes
  • There will be near zero risk of accidental fires, unlike Lithium. The technology developed already has a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 7 thereby paving the way for industrialization.

“In comparison to Lithium-ion batteries, the sodium-ion batteries will be upto 40% cheaper, much safer and have lower carbon footprint. Sodium-ion batteries address the concerns of geopolitical and supply-chain issues, which are associated with Lithium-ion batteries. The materials, which will be used in such Sodium-ion batteries, have been fabricated inhouse. Hence, the batteries would be a live example of ‘Make in India’ and ‘Make for India’. Many of the Ministries of the Government of India have already started discussions and feasibility studies on the possibility of Sodium-ion based energy storage landscape and the future thus looks promising and exciting”, said Prof. Amreesh Chandra, Department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur.

Uneverse Mobility will be initially setting up MW scale facilities that would lead to commercialization using the home-grown technology, which already has a technology readiness level (TRL) of 7. Uneverse eventually plans set up GWh scale facilities to cater to both domestic and export markets. India is expected to need 220 Gwh of ACC battery by 2030. Current Indigenous ACC production planning & deployment is nowhere close to this requirement and therefore presents huge market opportunity for companies like Uneverse. This joint activity is a perfect example of the changing times in India, where the academia-industry collaboration is becoming the focus of research activities in most of the institutes of national importance.

“India’s current EV sector is characterized by dependency on subsidies, import dependent supply chain & lack of a core indigenous battery technology. For electric mobility to be truly a champion of sustainability, we need the building blocks to be also sustainable. Uneverse is a passionate attempt to create such indigenous building blocks for a sustainable future of e-mobility and clean energy. Uneverse, thus starts its journey by addressing the core of clean energy and e-mobility, that is, Battery Technology. To achieve this grand purpose, we have entered an exclusive MoU with IIT Kharagpur where indigenously developed sodium ion technology, which will have a portfolio of multiple form factors of cells, will be made available for Indian market. The developed technology will find application in not only electric vehicles but also in Drones, Consumer Electronics and Energy Storage. Globally, only a handful of companies have made progress in this technology. Therefore, we are quite upbeat about putting India at the forefront of this game changing battery technology”, said Mr Manohar Bethapudi, Founder & CEO, Uneverse Mobility Pvt. Ltd.

“We would be launching the first set of products manufactured out of West Bengal in the next quarter of the current fiscal. We are looking at a pan India market for our product range and are currently in talks with various channel partners for marketing and product distribution”, said Ms Kamalika Guha, Co – Founder and CMO, Uneverse Mobility Pvt Ltd.

Media coverage :

Telegraph

Statesman

ETV Bharat

Aaj Kal

Ei Samay

E-Vehicle

Times of India

 

     

         Statesman                                               Ei Samay                                                       Aaj Kal 

Inputs by: Prof. Amreesh Chandra, Department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur
Email : amreesh.chandra@gmail.com

By : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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IDBI Trusteeship CSR Funding for IIT KGP’s Electric Vehicle

IIT Kharagpur gets CSR Funding from IDBI Trusteeship for Developing Light-Weight Parts for Indigenous Three-Wheeler Electric Vehicles

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IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd. has given a fillip to IIT Kharagpur’s Deshla electric vehicle project through its Corporate Social Responsibility programme. This funding will be used towards the design and development of aerodynamic body panels and light-weight structures for next-generation electric three-wheelers.

Electric vehicles need to match internal combustion (petrol/diesel/CNG/LPG) engine counterparts in initial cost, performance, reliability, etc. and better them in lower running costs and ease of use if they are to replace conventional vehicles. Revolutionary design changes, such as a drastic reduction in vehicle weight, aerodynamic body panels and indigenous development of relevant technologies e.g. motors, battery management systems, motor controller, battery pack design, etc. are essential to this end.

“Using the CSR contribution of IDBI Trusteeship, our key focus would be on aerodynamic body panel design for three-wheeler vehicles with peak speeds around50 kmph vehicle. We will also experiment on new materials and chassis designs to develop lightweight structures. The combination of these should make the vehicle much more efficient and provide a higher range from the battery pack with better pick-up and peak speeds. We have outlined a two-year proposal for this of which we have received funding for the first phase” said Prof. Vikranth Racherla, project leader and faculty at the Dept. of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Kharagpur.

“We try to cover the geography of the country strategically for green projects to support India’s goals in reducing its carbon footprint among other CSR projects,” said Swapan Kumar Bagchi, MD & CEO, IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd. who is also an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur. Bagchi had visited IIT Kharagpur in February 2020 to finalize the phase I funding for the project.

The project is expected to involve a large number of students from various departments of the Institute and also interns from other colleges working on various subsystems of electric vehicles. The innovations are expected to be ready in around two years. Participating students over a period of time would develop expertise in various subsystems of electric vehicles. These students are expected to lead electric vehicle development work in industries or become entrepreneurs in this segment once they graduate.

“The Deshla electric vehicle is one of the most successful and timely innovations from IIT Kharagpur, further it is totally based on indigenous technology. Last year the Govt. of India expanded the scope of CSR funding to IITs and other national institutions to promote industry-academia engagements in research and academics. The scope is immense and IIT Kharagpur is reaching out to several PSUs, MNCs and private corporations to support end-to-end research,” said Prof. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, International Relations who is heading the CSR initiative at IIT Kharagpur.

The Institute through its R&D projects has reached out to large sections of population solving challenges related to malnutrition, health and sanitation, power generation, clean drinking water, environmental sustainability, education, rural development and livelihood, gender equality and women’s empowerment and even national heritage, arts and culture among the others. The Institute’s CSR oriented projects have been conferred national awards and honours as well.

Paving Way to Future of Mobility

IIT KGP and Technical University of Munich Join Hands to Shape India’s Emerging Intelligent Mobility Landscape

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In an effort to evolve and give direction to the emerging intelligent mobility landscape in India, IIT KGP and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) from Germany are organizing a two-day workshop at IIT KGP on October 29th and 30th. This workshop is being held in the context of the newly-established Indo-German Collaborative Research Center on Intelligent Transportation Systems, which is currently a joint Center of IIT KGP and TUM, located within the IIT KGP campus, but seeks to involve multiple Indian and German academic and industry partners in the future. The workshop is also being supported by the Indo-German Science and Technology Center (IGSTC) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

This workshop has brought together various transportation experts from Indian and German academia and industry – such as TUM, IIT KGP,TU Berlin, TU Chemnitz, IIT BBSR, IIT Patna, ISI Kolkata, TH Ingolstadt, Siemens, Bosch, Infineon, Intel, TCS, Ola Cabs, — as well as policy makers and law enforcement agencies, who will discuss potential solutions in the domains of Intelligent Solutions for Transportation Integration, Technologies for Electric Vehicles and Batteries, and Systems & Software Challenges in next generation vehicular technologies. While many Indian cities have a variety of transportation modalities ranging from metro trains to autorickshaws, India also has unique transportation challenges and vast opportunities that are of huge interest to both German scientists and the German industry. In order to meaningfully address such challenges, it is necessary for the academia and the industry from the two countries to work together very closely, which this workshop will attempt to facilitate.

The mobility landscape in India is also undergoing a rapid transformation. India is expected to have 200 million new EVs by 2030. With nation-wide emphasis on electric vehicles and battery technologies, the potential for developing customized intelligent vehicular technologies for EVs in India is significant, which provides great opportunities for both Indian and German industries and for them to work together. While German automotive technologies are a brand in itself, Indian software prowess is now also acknowledged all over the world. With more than 90% of innovation in the automotive domain currently now being in electronics and software, an Indo-German cooperation can create new technologies and solutions not only for India but also for the global market.

While Germany is considered to have among the world’s best public transportation systems, solutions from German cities cannot be directly implemented in India, due to its unique characteristics such as the volume of passengers, road conditions, and the variety of available transportation mechanisms, including buses, trams, suburban and underground trains, auto rickshaws, taxis, and ferry services. Hence, transportation solutions for India pose interesting problems for German researchers that need to be addressed in close cooperation with their Indian counterparts.

“Future transportation solutions in India must be developed with a holistic view of the wide milieu of options available in Indian cities, and integrated end-to-end solutions will make public transport in India more reliable and comfortable, and reduce the dependency on private vehicles” opined Prof. Samarjit Chakraborty of TU Munich, who along with Prof. Pallab Dasgupta from IIT KGP were the main initiators of the new Indo-German Collaborative Research Center on Intelligent Transportation Systems. This Center aims to establish collaborations at both academic and industry levels between Germany and India for developing next generation transportation technology suitable for Indian cities and to create an ecosystem in India that is conducive for the German and Indian Industry. “The focus of innovation today is in intelligent software for safety, driver assistance, comfort and entertainment. Combining the software and AI expertise of India with the manufacturing leadership of Germany can bring about transformational benefits to both countries. At this Center and with appropriate collaborations with industry partners in India and Germany, we are looking forward to shaping our research goals and schemes for long-term sustainability of the Center,” remarked Prof. Pallab Dasgupta, who is also the Dean of Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy, at IIT KGP.

India, with its Smart Cities Mission, aims to develop 100 smart cities in the near future. Intelligent and integrated green transportation systems will be a key component of these cities. This would not only bring forward challenges in integrating the wide milieu of transportation options in Indian cities, but might also require designing new transportation systems for addressing the huge demand for public and private transportation in Indian cities. At the Indo-German Center, experts from various industries of the two countries, traffic control, policy makers, and Indian and German academics would work together towards finding India-centric solutions for these challenges, along with new business opportunities. In addition to new automotive technologies by combining German engineering and Indian software skills, the research in this center could potentially revolutionize management, analysis, and intelligent services in transportation, including fleet management, vehicle-to-infrastructure interactions, and cloud-based vehicle health monitoring, by combining technologies from the domains of wireless networks, smart sensing, smart wayside infrastructures, AI and machine learning.