THEBUSINESSBYTES BUREAU

ROURKELA, SEPTEMBER 3, 2026

Researchers at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela have developed a hybrid energy storage system aimed at improving the efficiency and extending the lifespan of batteries used in electric vehicles, an innovation that could help address key challenges associated with the country's rapidly growing EV ecosystem.

The technology has been developed by Professor Monalisa Pattnaik, Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, along with her research team comprising Dr Pradyumna Kumar Behera and Karan Gupta.

The NIT-Rourkela team has secured a patent for the technology and is open to collaboration with electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), powertrain system integrators, fleet operators and EV retrofit start-ups.

India, one of the world's largest automobile markets, has witnessed rapid growth in electric mobility, driven by concerns over dwindling petroleum reserves and government initiatives including the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan and the FAME schemes. Electric vehicle sales in the country crossed the one-million mark in 2022, reflecting the accelerating electrification of the domestic vehicle fleet.

EVs rely on battery packs, which comprise thousands of individual rechargeable cells. However, conventional battery packs can suffer from limited power density, restricted cycle life and increased thermal stress when subjected to rapid current fluctuations.

These challenges become particularly pronounced in urban driving conditions, where frequent starting and stopping, sudden acceleration and deceleration, and regenerative braking expose batteries to repeated high-rate current demands, potentially accelerating cell degradation.

To address these limitations, the researchers have developed a hybrid energy storage system (HESS) that combines a battery pack with a high-power-density supercapacitor.

Supercapacitors store energy electrostatically at the electrode-electrolyte interface and can charge and discharge within seconds. Their specific power can be an order of magnitude higher than that of conventional batteries, while their cycle life typically exceeds one million charge-discharge cycles with negligible degradation.

In the proposed system, the supercapacitor absorbs and supplies transient power during sudden acceleration, deceleration and regenerative braking, reducing the high-rate current stress on the battery and potentially extending its service life.

Battery and supercapacitor systems are generally connected through passive, semi-active or active configurations. In a passive configuration, the two energy storage devices are directly connected, limiting the ability of the supercapacitor to respond rapidly to changing power demands.

Active configurations, on the other hand, use separate electronic converters to manage the battery and supercapacitor independently. While this provides greater control, it also increases the number of components, system complexity and associated losses.

The NIT-Rourkela researchers have sought to overcome these limitations through a hybrid energy storage architecture that protects the battery from sudden power surges, makes efficient use of supercapacitor energy and reduces the number of components required.

 “Our architecture contains three main components, one converter to connect both battery and supercapacitor to the vehicle’s electrical system, an inductor that is placed in the electrical path, and a single control system to handle the power flow,” Prof Pattnaik said.

The single converter serves both the battery and supercapacitor, reducing the number of switches and control components and thereby simplifying the system. The inductor helps protect the battery against sudden current surges, while the single control system manages power flow during both acceleration and deceleration, reducing hardware requirements.

The researchers tested the system under demanding operating conditions involving sudden braking, rapid acceleration and deceleration. The tests showed that the system maintained a stable 48-volt output, enabled smoother changes in battery current and allowed the supercapacitor to efficiently handle sudden variations in power demand.

 “Our design is highly optimized for low-voltage EV platforms operating in the 24 V to 60 V DC range. This includes urban light electric vehicles such as electric scooters, electric motorcycles, electric rickshaws (e-rickshaws), cargo tricycles, and campus/industrial utility vehicles,” Prof Pattnaik said.

Beyond electric vehicles, the technology has potential applications in automated guided vehicles (AGVs), warehouse carts, DC microgrids and renewable-energy charging stations, the researchers said.

The patented technology could therefore offer a compact and relatively less complex approach to managing transient power demands while reducing stress on batteries, an important consideration as India expands its electric mobility infrastructure and the demand for longer-lasting, efficient energy storage systems grows.