Frank Blome is to head the Battery Cell Centre of Excellence of the Volkswagen brand. Blome, previously chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche ACCUmotive GmbH, is to assume the newly created function with effect from 1 January 2018.

Blome (48) holds a degree in electrical engineering and started his career as a development engineer in 1995. Following various positions as project manager and development manager for electric drive systems with Continental AG, he became head of Energy Management of Continental AG in 2004. In 2009 he was appointed chairman of the Board of Management of Deutsche ACCUmotive GmbH in Kirchheim/Teck and Kamenz. From 2013, Blome was also managing director of Li-Tec.

Volkswagen says it s addressing the issue of battery technology with a multi-stage medium- to long-term strategy – starting with bundling Group-wide development, procurement and quality assurance activities for all battery cells and modules in a “Center of Excellence” in Salzgitter. The Volkswagen brand is also setting up its first pilot line there to accumulate production know-how.