Celina Mikolajczak

Celina Mikolajczak has spent 20 years working in lithium-ion batteries and has taken on a variety of roles across the field. At Exponent, Celina helped found the battery consulting group and developed battery failure analysis techniques and safety standards related to consumer electronics devices.

She led Cell Quality and Materials Engineering at Tesla while the company launched Model S, Model X, Model 3, Powerwall, and Powerpack products. Celina joined Uber as Director of Battery Engineering to lead the design of battery packs for micro-mobility and urban air mobility applications. She then became Vice President of Engineering and Battery Technology at Panasonic Energy of North America, which produces li-ion cells for Tesla at the Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada.

Celina currently works as the Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering at QuantumScape, where she is taking a leadership role in developing QuantumScape’s cell manufacturing capability. Celina has a particular passion for battery safety. She has published extensively on this topic and has served on a variety of li-ion battery safety standards committees including those responsible for UL 1642, UL 2054, and NFPA 855, as well as working groups supporting the development of fire codes related to li-ion battery production, storage, and installation.