Panasonic Hires Former Tesla Battery Expert

Panasonic Corp. has hired Celina Mikolajczak, a former lithium-ion battery expert at Tesla Inc., as vice president of battery technology, Bloomberg News reports.

She will be based in Reno, Nev., and play a key role in accelerating battery production at the “gigafactory” Panasonic and Tesla operate there, according to Panasonic. The company describes her as widely recognized in the battery industry for her technological expertise and leadership skills.

Mikolajczak (pictured) worked at Tesla between 2012 and 2018, then spent about a year at Uber Technologies Inc. She was involved in the ride-hailing service’s electrification programs for scooters and robotic air taxis, Bloomberg says.

One of her missions at Panasonic will be to overcome a tiff with Tesla in April in which each company blamed the other for delays in ramping up Tesla Model 3 electric sedan production.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk complained at the time that vehicle output was constrained by Panasonic’s refusal to boost battery throughput at their jointly operated gigafactory. But a Japanese media report said Panasonic declined to invest in further battery making capacity at the plant until Model 3 output justified the expansion.