The Porsche holding Customcells brings a specialist for electromobility to the top. Dirk Abendroth will become the new CEO, the Tübingen company announced on Friday.
Customcells is a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute and with around 150 employees develops high-performance battery cells for the automotive, marine, aviation, oil and gas industries. The VW subsidiary Porsche has held a stake in the company since 2021 and founded the Cellforce Group joint venture with Customcells, in which battery cells are to be built.
Abendroth, who holds a doctorate in electrical engineering, began his professional career at BMW, where he held various positions for twelve years. In 2016 he joined Byton as Executive Vice President, where he was responsible for the powertrain and autonomous driving. Three years later, Abendroth became head of technology for the automotive division at the automotive supplier Continental. Last year he then moved to the technology holding company Team Global as CTO.
“Dirk Abendroth brings with him many years of experience from corporations, start-ups and the venture capital scene, he has great expertise in the automotive and aviation industries and is very familiar with electric drives and new technologies,” said Leopold König, co-founder of Customcells.”With Dirk Abendroth, we can scale our ideas and become a global player for premium battery cells in Germany,” adds co-founder Torge Thönnessen.The two founders will remain managing directors of the Customcells Group’s subsidiaries.