A team from Hyundai Motors Group, including Mr. Siyun Kim and Chang Jin Kim, General Manager, visited VNIT Nagpur on 10th March 2026 to interact and discuss to establish Interdisciplinary Hyundai Center of Excellence (HCoE) at VNIT Nagpur on Battery technology and Electrification Research and Product Development. Hyundai Motors Group recently launched a national initiative to establish a network of few prestigious Higher Educational Institutes in India. VNIT Nagpur is 1st among all NITs in India to establish Hyundai CoE. Other HCoE are established at IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad and Tezpur University.
Scope of this HCoE will be Industry Projects, Training and Education, Global e-Conferences, Joint Workshops and other related activities. Under this HCoE, identified faculty members of VNIT from Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, and Computer Science & Engineering will work together to solve the industry problems given by Hyundai in the areas of Battery Technology and Electric Transportation.
Dr. Prem Lal Patel, Director VNIT appreciated the efforts made by team VNIT to have such a unique concept and suggested to jointly submit the interdisciplinary research and development project under this prestigious CoE to get industry fund from Hyundai. He emphasized on capacity building in the areas of battery technology and electrification for future mobility sector for Atmanirbhar Bharat. Institute Coordinator HCoE@VNIT and Associate Professor Dr. Pradyumn Chaturvedi informed that with the heavy penetration of Electric Vehicle and Renewable Energy Sources into the grid, this Industry Relevant and Industry Supported CoE will open avenues for the development of futuristic technologies in the areas of energy storage materials, thermal and cooling system, battery chemistry, physics of the storage system, storage management system, application of AI/ML in these areas and power electronic converter systems. Dr. B K. Panigrahi (IIT Delhi), Dr. Sagar Mitra (IIT Bombay) and Dr Krishna Vasudevan (IIT Madras) played a key role in evaluating and selecting the institute for HCoE.
This collaboration is the outcome of research exchange meetings of ongoing SERB/ANRF funded consortium project with Dr Pradyumn Chaturvedi as Principal Investigator, under Intensification of Research in High Priority Areas (IRHPA) program, titled, “Sustainable Technology for Smart Off-Grid Renewable Energy Transformation and Electrochemical Storage Management”, SERB Center for Energy Transformation and Storage at Power Electronics Research Laboratory (PERL), VNIT Nagpur.
Hyundai Motors delegates interacted with Prof. K. M. Bhurhandi (Dean International Affairs), Prof. Rashmi Uddanwadikar (Associate Dean Training and Placement), Dr. M. D. Goel (Associate Dean, Consultancy and Industry Relations), Dr. M. S. Kotambkar (Associate Dean, Public Relation), Prof. M. S. Ballal (HoD, EED) and Professor Members of HCoE@VNIT from various departments.