As part of the campaign Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Climate Change and Education department of the Government of Gujarat organised an EV demonstration and EV Rally for Climate Change Awareness at the Nirma University campus on September 25, 2022. The event had Shri B H Talati, IAS, Joint Secretary, Climate Change Department, GoG, as the Chief Guest. Other dignitaries present were Dr Anup K Singh, Director General, Nirma University; Shri G Ramachandran Nair, Executive Registrar, Nirma University; Dr P N Tekwani, Director, Directorate of Research and Innovation and Shri Shwetal Shah, Technical Advisor, Climate Change Department, GoG. The EV rally had electric scooters taking a round of the entire campus.
Addressing the gathering, Shri Talati says, ‘The government is finding ways on how to reduce the carbon footprint and is emphasising on the use of green energy. We are working on aluminium air batteries and silicon batteries and with the help of our faculty and students, we can research how to make optimum economic use of them. The government is ready to fund a viable idea and provide the required resources for the idea.’
Dr P N Tekwani says, ‘To support this cause, Nirma University has already started MTech in Electric Vehicle Technology. The university students create electric vehicles every year and participate in national and international competitions.’
Dr Singh thanked the official from the government of Gujarat for coming up with such an initiative and said that the university is already using alternate energy on campus and is planning to increase its usage in future.
