As governments around the world continue to develop EV policies, there are many competing interests and questions that demand thorough analysis backed by data and evidence driven research.
Sunitha Anup, our next pathbreaker, works as Researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation, or ICCT, (India), an independent, nonprofit research organisation that provides technical research and policy analysis on clean transportation.
Sunitha talks to Shyam Krishnamurthy from The Interview Portal about transitioning from a career in academia to addressing real world problems focused on electric vehicles, fuel efficiency, charging infrastructure, electricity systems and policies that can help reduce emissions from transportation.
For students, don’t just think only about “What job do I want?”, instead think about “What problems do I want to solve?”
I grew up in Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala. It was a wonderful place to grow up. Thrissur is known for its festivals, music, traditional arts and, of course, the famous Thrissur Pooram. The city has a very strong cultural character, but at the same time it is a relatively simple and peaceful place to grow up. I think that environment gave me a good balance between academics and other interests.
As a school student, I enjoyed science and was actively involved in science forums. I also enjoyed reciting poems. So, even though science and engineering eventually became my professional path, I always had an interest in both the analytical and creative sides of things.
I was curious about how things worked. I did not necessarily know what career I wanted at that age, but I knew I enjoyed understanding things and solving problems.
What did you do for graduation/post-graduation?
I studied Electrical Engineering for my undergraduate degree.
Electrical Engineering always intrigued me because of the complexity of something as fundamental as the flow of electrons and what humans have been able to build around it. Electricity is invisible, but it powers almost everything around us. The subject gave me a way of understanding that world.
I later did my master’s studies in Power Systems and then pursued a PhD in Energy Studies at IIT Delhi.
My PhD was in power systems, particularly transient stability. It was a very technical area, but it taught me something much more valuable than just the subject itself: how to approach a difficult problem, break it down and work towards an answer.
Why did you choose this career in EV technology?
I don’t think I chose my career through one big decision. It happened through a series of decisions.
Electrical Engineering interested me, so I studied it. Research fascinated me, so doing a PhD was a natural next step.
What I particularly enjoyed about research was understanding how knowledge develops.
When you start a PhD, you are not expected to solve a problem completely from scratch. You first understand what thousands of researchers before you have already discovered. Then you try to add one small piece to that much larger body of knowledge.
Someone else has solved one part of the problem, another researcher has built on it, and your work adds another small step. The next researcher may then take your work forward.
I found that process fascinating.
Over time, I also realised that the skills developed through research such as problem solving, asking the right questions, analysing evidence and dealing with uncertainty, can be taken outside academia and applied to real-life problems.
That is what eventually attracted me towards energy and clean transportation.
I feel fortunate to be working at a time when an Electrical Engineer can contribute to electric mobility, which sits at the intersection of two areas that are becoming increasingly important: clean energy and clean transportation.
And today, this work is not limited to one country or one organisation. It is connected to researchers, policymakers and experts across the world.
How did you plan the steps to get into the career you wanted?
My career path was not something I planned completely in advance. I started with Electrical Engineering.
My career path has not been a very conventional one, but each stage has shaped the person and professional I am today. After completing my BTech in Electrical and Electronics Engineering in 2002, I had family responsibilities and chose to focus on raising my two children.
I did not see those years as a break from learning. I continued to follow developments in technology, energy and the world around me, while also thinking about what kind of work I eventually wanted to do and how I could contribute meaningfully.
Once my younger child was old enough to be more independent with school, I felt the time was right to step back into academics. I started my MTech in 2009. My husband’s job also involved transfers, so adapting to different places and circumstances became part of my life. Looking back, those experiences made me more resilient, independent and comfortable with navigating uncertainty.
So, rather than being a sudden decision, the MTech was something I had been preparing myself for over several years. When the circumstances were right, I took that step.
Towards the later part of my MTech, I also worked as a Technical Documentation Engineer at Sarman Engineering. The company works in electrical testing solutions and develops customised testing equipment, particularly for switchgear, with clients in India and overseas.
My work involved understanding the technical aspects of the equipment and converting that technical information into clear and structured documentation. It gave me experience in working with engineering information very closely and, importantly, in communicating technical concepts in a way that others could understand and use.
I found that experience quite useful because later in my career, a large part of my work has also involved taking complex technical research and translating it into something that policymakers, industry stakeholders and a wider audience can understand.
During my MTech, I realised that I was increasingly interested not just in learning existing knowledge, but in understanding problems deeply and finding ways to solve them. I enjoyed the analytical and research side of engineering.
That naturally led me towards a PhD. I wanted to work on problems where engineering could have a broader real-world impact. My interest gradually moved towards energy and power systems, and I eventually chose to work on transient stability of power systems at IIT Delhi.
The PhD was therefore not something I had planned immediately after my BTech. It emerged from my experience during my MTech and from the realisation that research suited the way I like to learn and solve problems.
Can you explain the problem statement of your PhD and about your research? How is it connected to the real world?
My PhD was related transient stability of electrical power systems. Transient stability is the ability of an electrical power system to maintain synchronism and return to a stable state after a large, sudden disturbance like a short circuit or line trip. The problem was that conventional methods for transient stability can become computationally difficult for large power systems and can sometimes give conservative estimates of how much time a system has to respond to a fault. My research looked at the fact that different variables in a power system change at different speeds. I used singular perturbation theory, which allows these different time scales to be represented more appropriately in the mathematical model. I developed models for both a single-machine system and a multi-machine power system and used stability boundaries and Lyapunov-based energy functions to quantify the stability margin.
The real-world relevance is quite straightforward. Power systems have to remain stable even when there are faults or sudden changes in generation and demand. If the system becomes unstable, it can lead to cascading failures and potentially large-scale blackouts. So, although my work was mathematical and theoretical, the underlying question was very practical: how can we understand the stability margin of a complex power system more accurately and efficiently?
There is also an interesting connection with what I do at ICCT today. I don’t directly use the singular perturbation equations from my PhD in my current work, but the way of thinking I developed during the PhD is very relevant. My current work involves analysing complex energy and transport systems, building scenarios, working with large datasets and models, and understanding how changes in one part of the system affect the others.
For example, in my current work on EV adoption, charging infrastructure and grid integration, we look at how increasing electrification affects electricity demand and the power system. We need to understand the timing and magnitude of EV charging demand, how different vehicle segments behave, and how the electricity system can accommodate that demand. My PhD gave me a strong foundation in power systems, mathematical modelling, system dynamics and quantitative problem-solving, which I now apply from a much broader policy perspective.
So, in a way, the subject has changed from keeping the power system stable to understanding how the power system needs to evolve as transportation becomes increasingly electric. The common thread is still the same: understanding a complex energy system, using quantitative analysis to identify risks and opportunities, and translating that analysis into practical decisions.
After my PhD, I worked in academia as an Assistant Professor at NIT Delhi.
Teaching was a very important part of my career because it taught me how to explain complicated ideas in simple ways. It also made me realise that I enjoyed learning continuously.
Over time, I became more interested in applying technical knowledge to larger energy and environmental problems. I have a background in electrical engineering and power systems, and by that time my work had moved increasingly towards electric mobility. I was becoming very interested in the question of what happens to the power system when transport starts electrifying at scale.
That eventually brought me into research on clean transportation. Since 2019, I have been working with the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) in India. I applied for the EnerTracks Fellowship at Agora Energiewende and was selected for the six-week programme in Berlin. It was a really interesting format because we continued working with our home organisations while spending time with Agora experts, working on our own research topics and learning from fellows from different countries.
My particular focus was on power-system flexibility and EV charging infrastructure in India. I wanted to understand how we could plan to charge in a way that works with the electricity system, rather than treating charging simply as a transport issue. I was able to learn from the German Energiewende experience but also bring the Indian perspective into those discussions. My published blog on this https://theicct.org/india-ev-charging-energy-coops-oct22/
What I really valued was the combination of technical knowledge, policy thinking and stakeholder engagement. It also connected very well with my subsequent ICCT work on EV charging and energy systems. So, for me, Berlin was really a bridge between my earlier power-systems background and the work I was doing on electric mobility and that systems perspective is something I continue to use in my work today.
My work today combines several things that I have learnt along the way- engineering, energy, research, data analysis, writing, communication and policy.
Looking back, I don’t think every step had to be planned. Each step gave me skills that became useful for the next one.
How did you get your first break?
My first major break was getting into research and eventually getting the opportunity to do my PhD at IIT Delhi.
The PhD gave me the confidence to work independently on difficult problems. It also taught me how to read a large amount of information, identify what is still unknown, develop an approach and defend my conclusions.
Later, my academic experience and interest in energy helped me move towards applied research.
I think sometimes we wait for one big opportunity to change our career. But often, the first break comes from something you have been quietly building for several years- your knowledge, skills and willingness to learn.
My transition from being an Assistant Professor at NIT Delhi to ICCT was really driven by a desire to see my research have a more direct, real-world impact. I started asking myself a very simple question: Do I want to continue only doing research and publishing papers, or do I want to work on problems where the research can directly influence policy and what happens on the ground?
That was around 2018, which was a very interesting time for electric mobility in Delhi. The first draft of the Delhi Electric Vehicle Policy was being discussed and finalised. At the same time, ICCT was looking to establish a stronger presence in Delhi and build a team of researchers working on clean transportation in India. I came across that opportunity and felt that it was exactly the kind of work I was looking for. It was a move from a relatively established academic position into something new, but I saw it as an opportunity to work on real policy problems, with governments, industry and other stakeholders, and hopefully see the research translate into action.
So, I took the decision to leave my Assistant Professor position and join ICCT in 2019. It wasn’t that I was unhappy with academia. It was more that I wanted to try something different and see whether my technical background could be used in a more applied way.
And I think that is an important lesson for students: your first job does not have to define your entire career. My background was in power-system engineering, but that eventually led me into electric mobility, energy transition and transport policy. Sometimes you have to recognise when an emerging area is creating an opportunity and be willing to step outside the conventional career path.
I also didn’t know exactly where the journey would take me when I joined ICCT. I just knew that I wanted to work on problems that mattered. Over time, that has taken me from electric mobility and vehicle efficiency to charging infrastructure, life-cycle emissions, fuel-economy standards and the connection between transport electrification and the power system.
So, if I had to give students one piece of advice from that experience, it would be: don’t look only for a job; look for a problem you want to spend the next few years solving. If you find the right problem and the right organisation, the career path often develops along the way.
What were some of the challenges you faced? How did you address them?
Challenge 1: Not knowing exactly where I was heading
I did not have a fixed career plan from the beginning. There were several points where I had to decide what I wanted to do next.
I learnt to focus more on what I wanted to learn and contribute rather than worrying about having the entire career mapped out.
Challenge 2: Moving beyond my original area
My academic background was in electrical engineering and power systems. My current work involves transportation, energy, climate, technology and public policy.
I had to learn many new things along the way.
I dealt with this by accepting that I would not know everything. I read, asked questions, worked with people from different disciplines and learnt from colleagues.
Challenge 3: Making technical work useful to people outside engineering
A technically correct answer is not always enough. Policymakers and the public need to understand what the answer means and why it matters.
My experience in teaching helped me a lot here. It taught me to step back from the technical details and ask: “How would I explain this to someone who doesn’t have my background?”
I currently work with the International Council on Clean Transportation, or ICCT, in India.
The ICCT stands for the International Council on Clean Transportation. It is not a government body. It is an independent, nonprofit research organisation that provides technical research and policy analysis on clean transportation. Its mission is to improve the environmental performance and energy efficiency of road, marine and air transportation, with the larger goals of protecting public health and mitigating climate change.
So, one simple way of explaining ICCT is: we are a research organisation that works to help governments make better decisions on transportation and climate policy.
We don’t make laws or regulations ourselves. Governments do that. What ICCT does is provide the data, analysis, modelling and technical evidence that can help policymakers decide what a good policy could look like, how ambitious it should be, what it would cost, and what impact it could have.
For example, if a government is considering stronger fuel-efficiency standards for cars, ICCT might study what technologies are available, how much manufacturers would need to invest, how much fuel and CO₂ could be saved, and what level of regulation would be technically feasible. Similarly, for electric vehicles, we may look at EV adoption, charging infrastructure, battery requirements, life-cycle emissions or the interaction between EV charging and the electricity system.
Who are the stakeholders?
There are several, and this is what makes the work interesting.
First are governments and policymakers, central governments, state governments, regulators and city authorities. They are particularly important because they ultimately design and implement the policies.
Second is industry, vehicle manufacturers, component manufacturers, fuel companies, charging companies and other businesses. Policies affect their investment and technology decisions, so understanding the industry’s perspective is important.
Third are civil society and environmental organisations, who bring perspectives on air pollution, climate change, public health and social impacts.
Fourth are researchers and academic institutions, who contribute scientific and technical knowledge.
And increasingly, there are also investors, consumers and other market participants who need credible information about where the transport sector is heading. ICCT’s approach is to provide high-quality, transparent analysis that can inform these different groups.
But there is an important distinction: ICCT is not an advocacy organisation in the conventional sense, and it is not an industry consultancy. Its value comes from doing independent, evidence-based research and putting that evidence into the policy discussion.
For me, that is actually one of the most interesting things about working at ICCT. You can spend months doing detailed technical analysis—whether it is vehicle efficiency, EV charging or life-cycle emissions—but the ultimate question is always: Can this research help someone make a better decision?
And that is also why I moved from academia to ICCT. In a university, your research may eventually influence policy, but at ICCT, influencing real-world policy is much closer to the centre of what we do.
A good example from India is the work around electric mobility. When governments are developing EV policies, there are many competing interests and questions: How ambitious should the targets be? Which vehicle segments should be prioritised? How much charging infrastructure is needed? What happens to electricity demand? How do we ensure that the policy actually reduces emissions?
Our role is to bring evidence and technical analysis into that conversation so that policymakers can make informed choices.
So, if I had to explain the purpose of ICCT to students in one sentence, I would say:
ICCT uses science, data and technical research to help governments and other decision-makers design policies that can make transportation cleaner, more efficient and ultimately zero-emission.
In simple terms, I work on questions around how we can make transportation cleaner and more efficient.
For example, I look at electric vehicles, fuel efficiency, charging infrastructure, electricity systems and policies that can help reduce emissions from transportation.
A lot of my work involves research and data. I may be analysing data, developing or using models, writing a research paper, discussing results with colleagues or speaking with policymakers and other stakeholders.
The skills needed for this job are a combination of technical and non-technical skills.
You need to be comfortable with numbers and data, but you also need curiosity, critical thinking, writing and communication skills. You need to be able to work with people from different disciplines.
What I like most is that the questions keep changing. I am constantly learning something new.
How does your work benefit society?
Transportation is something that affects everyone.
The vehicles we use affect fuel consumption, air pollution, energy demand and climate change. At the same time, transportation is essential for people’s daily lives and for the economy.
My work is about trying to understand how we can make this transition cleaner while keeping it practical.
Research can help policymakers make better decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions.
For me, that is what makes the work meaningful. I am not just studying technology for the sake of technology. I am trying to understand how it can be used to solve a real problem.
Tell us an example of a specific memorable work you did that is very close to you.
One project that I am particularly proud of was a collaboration with IIT Roorkee on the life-cycle emissions of different vehicle technologies in India.
There were several studies by Indian researchers looking at the environmental impact of different transportation technologies. We wanted to bring this evidence together and understand what the research was really telling us.
We looked at the studies both quantitatively and qualitatively and tried to understand which factors actually matter when comparing different vehicle technologies.
What made this project particularly interesting was that it went beyond simply producing another research paper. The findings helped inform discussions and recommendations for policymakers, including the debate around hybrid vehicles and conventional combustion-engine vehicles.
I liked this project because it brought together many things I enjoy—research, data, critical thinking and, most importantly, using research to answer a real policy question.
It also reminded me why I enjoy research. Sometimes the most useful work is not about finding one dramatic answer. It is about carefully putting together many pieces of evidence and helping people understand what they collectively mean.
What is your advice to students based on your experience?
My first advice would be: don’t choose a career simply because everyone else is choosing it.
There is nothing wrong with choosing medicine, engineering or IT. But these are not the only careers that can give you a meaningful and successful life.
Try to understand what you enjoy.
If you like mathematics, there are many careers beyond becoming an engineer. If you like science, there are many different areas of research. If you enjoy writing, designing, working with people, building things or solving social problems, there are careers around all of these interests.
I would also tell students not to worry too much about having everything figured out at 16 or 18.
I certainly did not.
Your interests can change as you learn more. Sometimes an opportunity takes you in a direction you had never imagined.
Learn your fundamentals well, stay curious and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
And perhaps most importantly, don’t think only about “What job do I want?”
Think about “What problems do I want to solve?”
That question can open up many more possibilities.
I would like to continue working at the intersection of energy, technology and clean transportation.
Electric mobility is growing rapidly, and it is creating interesting questions that go well beyond the vehicle itself. We have to think about batteries, electricity generation, charging infrastructure, grids, policies and how all these pieces fit together.
I would like to continue contributing to this transition through research and policy.
I also hope to work more with young people and students. When I look back at my own journey, I realise that I was fortunate to discover different possibilities along the way.
If I can help a young student see that there are many interesting careers beyond the conventional choices, that would be very meaningful to me.
Hope this helps.
Best wishes