The leadership team at cellcentric, a 50:50 fuel cell joint venture between Daimler Trucks AG and Volvo Group has had an update for 2026.
Kai Woerner is now the Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of the venture which was created to develop, produce and market fuel cell systems for heavy-duty commercial vehicles and off-road applications.
The goal of cellcentric is to become a leading global manufacturer of fuel cells and thus making a contribution to climate-neutral and sustainable transportation by 2050.
It employs more than 560 people across sites in Kirchheim/Teck, Stuttgart, Esslingen (Germany) and Burnaby (Canada), and since 2001 has filed roughly 700 individual intellectual property rights relating to its technological developments.
Woerner comes to the job with years of operational experience from various international management positions at Bosch, including a stint in charge of process and machine development for injection systems at the German Bamberg site. He later led the company’s Charleston, South Carolina, US site and last supervised the German Hildesheim site.
His last previous position was as COO EU/US at AESC, a globally leading supplier of high-performance batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems.
“I am delighted to be able to contribute my experience and ideas to cellcentric as Chief Operating Officer,” Woerner says.
“cellcentric has a compelling structure for the successful industrialisation and market leadership of fuel cells for heavy-duty applications.
“Both globally active partners of the joint venture – Daimler Truck and Volvo Group – are known for their focus on strong innovations and long-term visions for sustainable transport, underpinned by exceptional financial strength and their depth in R&D and process development.”
Nicholas Loughlan, managing director (CTO) and spokesperson for the cellcentric Management Board, says: “We are delighted that Kai joins us at cellcentric!
“His huge and also broad experience in the field of production and production technology will be a fantastic asset for cellcentric.
“We are happy to have him with cellcentric and in the management board of our company, joining Niklas Ekstroem as our CFO, and myself.”