EV Accelerator interview with Charlie Abend of VW

Volkswagen Group has become a leader among automakers in the transformation to clean battery electric-powered vehicles. Its Chattanooga, Tennessee, assembly plant is at the forefront of this transformation. In this edition of EV Accelerator, sponsored by Keysight, we speak with Charlie Abend. As high-voltage validation manager for Volkswagen of America, Abend is responsible for testing all locally produced EV batteries for the North American market. A Tennessee native, Abend joined VW Group of America's engineering development team in 2015 and moved on to high-voltage validation in 2019. We spoke with him about the benefits of testing batteries around the world, how his team has already processed six generations of packs, made up of between 300 and 400 individual battery packs and why VW tests for conditions that don’t exist on our world.