The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras, has announced that it will be setting up a new campus in Auroville, Puducherry yesterday, Monday, March 24.

“It will be the fourth campus of IIT Madras. Auroville will be giving us 100 acres. We will set up a sustainability campus aligned to the objectives of Auroville. A test track for electric trucks will be set up as one of the first facilities on 20 acres,” IIT Madras Director Prof V Kamakoti told reporters yesterday, Times of India reports.

Revealing more details about the campus and its endeavours, the director further said, “We already have a satellite campus at Thaiyur, a foreign campus in Zanzibar, besides the main campus. The new campus will come into operation in the next two to three months.”

The testing track will be part of the institute’s Centre of Excellence for Zero Emission Trucking (CoEZET). “About 45 per cent of fuel is consumed by trucks. If we cut down consumption by 50 per cent, it will make a significant impact on carbon emissions,” Prof Kamakoti explained.

In addition, IIT Madras also announced a new web-enabled Master of Technology (MTech) programme for working professionals in Electric Vehicle (EV) technology, as well as a certificate programme in eMobility, a 100-hour online course on cutting-edge EV knowledge.

Further, the institute also launched two papers — a report on the safe electrification of battery electric trucks for inflammable and hazardous commodities transportation, and a report on failure mechanisms and consequences analysis for battery electric trucks.

Dr Preeti Banzal, Senior Scientist from the office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India, PK Banerjee, executive director of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, Dr Manu Santhanam, Dean of Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research at IIT Madras, Dr CS Shankar Ram, Head of the Department of Engineering Design, Prof Karthick Atmanathan, and Ajithkumar TK, Chief Executive Officer of CoEZET, were all present at the launch event.