QuantumScape loses manufacturing chief over management style mismatch

Celina Mikolajczak, who has held senior roles at Tesla and Panasonic, resigned from QuantumScape considerably less than a year just after using the chief production officer placement at the solid-condition battery corporation, in accordance to a regulatory submitting.

Mikolajczak and QuantumScape are parting approaches about “differing administration designs in between the parties,” the submitting with the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee states. Mikolajczak will transfer to an advisory purpose on the company’s scientific advisory board.

She intends to concentration her career on the growth of a thoroughly U.S.-based battery offer chain, in accordance to the submitting.

Shares of QuantumScape fell 7.7% to near at $10.15, near its 52-week low of $10.

The departure wraps up a rapid and furious romantic relationship between the business and Mikolajczak.

A minimal about a 12 months ago, Mikolajczak took a board seat at QuantumScape. She was nevertheless vice president of battery technologies at Panasonic Electricity of North The usa when she joined the board, telling TechCrunch at the time that her employer “graciously authorized her” to get the appointment.

A month later, QuantumScape declared Mikolajczak would join the business as vice president of producing engineering, starting in July. She resigned from the board in connection with accepting the supply. In her new role, Mikolajczak was billed with leading the transition of the company’s applications and manufacturing processes from investigate and improvement to output, QuantumScape explained in a regulatory submitting at the time.

The hiring appeared to be a boon for both of those events.

QuantumScape, which had risen to buzzy prominence just after Volkswagen Team invested much more than $500 million, struck a offer in September 2020 to merge with a specific objective acquisition firm, Kensington Money Acquisition Corp. The funds elevated by way of the general public markets would give QuantumScape the improve it wanted to commercialize reliable-point out batteries for electric powered automobiles.

In the meantime, Mikolajczak had the kind of knowledge QuantumScape would will need to scale.

Mikolajczak has a extensive heritage of researching and building far better lithium-ion batteries. Her technical consulting apply at Exponent concentrated on lithium-ion mobile and battery security and top quality. She then took a senior administration position at Tesla that was targeted on cell quality and elements engineering. Through her time at Tesla, Mikolajczak developed the battery cells and packs for Tesla’s Design S, Design X, Design 3 and Roadster Refresh.

Immediately after leaving Tesla, Mikolajczak went on to provide as director of engineering, concentrating on battery improvement for rideshare motor vehicles at Uber Systems. And in 2019, she joined Panasonic Electrical power of North The united states, exactly where she was vice president of battery technologies. Whilst at Panasonic, Mikolajczak led a group targeted on increasing lithium-ion mobile producing and bringing the most current cell systems to mass production for Tesla at the Gigafactory facility in Sparks, Nevada.