By Battery Power Online Staff
June 16, 2021 | Celina Mikolajczak, formerly of Tesla, Uber, and Panasonic, is joining QuantumScape Corporation as Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering. In this role, Mikolajczak will lead the transition of the company’s tools and manufacturing processes from research and development to production. One of her primary projects will be helping deploy high-throughput continuous-flow processes at QS-0, QuantumScape’s pre-pilot line facility in San Jose. QS-0 will feature a high-automation line capable of building over 200,000 cells per year for use in electric test vehicles.
“I’m delighted to join QuantumScape at this time in its journey,” said Mikolajczak in a press release. “Having served on QuantumScape’s board of directors, I have seen first-hand the depth of its technology and team. I look forward to now working directly with the team to help bring this technology into mass production. I can’t think of a more inspiring project I could be working on right now.”
Mikolajczak has a strong background leading highly sophisticated cell engineering and battery manufacturing functions for prominent organizations, including Tesla Motors and Uber. She joins QuantumScape from Panasonic Energy of North America, where she played an integral role in scaling some of the leading battery technologies fueling today’s electric vehicle revolution as VP of Engineering & Battery Technology.
“We are thrilled to have a leader of Celina’s caliber join the company to help industrialize our technology,” said Jagdeep Singh, CEO and co-founder of QuantumScape, in the same statement. “Celina is not only a battery technology expert, having spent virtually her entire career at leading battery-related companies, but has a profound understanding of what it takes to scale up battery production. There’s no better person I can think of to run manufacturing engineering at this stage in our growth.”
Mikolajczak joins Clayton Patch, who recently started as Vice President of Manufacturing. Patch has extensive experience with high-volume process-oriented manufacturing, having run fab operations and advanced development at Micron Technology, Inc. and IM Flash, a joint venture between Micron Technology and Intel Corporation.
As part of the transition to the company’s leadership team, Mikolajczak is resigning her seat on the QuantumScape Board of Directors, effective immediately.
