IIT-B plans to build fuel efficient vehicles

IIT Bombay is trying to build public transportation systems which are three times as energy efficient as compared to those today.

“With a focus on developing novel public transportation systems which are energy efficient, we want to create cheap alternatives for people. We need to find ways to build vehicles that are three times as fuel efficient than those today,” said IIT-B professor Kavi Arya.

Urban transport planning and creating an ‘urban scenario simulator model’ will use real census data, actual traffic data and other accurate inputs to model the response of a city to various interventions through infrastructure building.

Arya explained that since infrastructure is very expensive, an urban scenario simulator model would be of immense use as it would anticipate the effects of a project at the planning stage.

The idea to create multi-disciplinary teams, said IIT-B Research and Development dean Krithi Ramamritham, germinated from one of the research forums which kick started at the institute in August.

“Each meeting focuses on one big topic on which we have had collaborative success or on which we should initiate collaborative activities. A cross-disciplinary team for transportation will have to look at factors like social issues, deployment, manufacturing and design among others,” said Ramamritham.

The team will also work on traffic management and urban infrastructure. “There’s tremendous potential in academia which we need to exploit for such issues. It will help in increasing awareness in the campus too,” added Arya.

b_mihika@dnaindia.net