William A. Paxton, Senior Scientist, Energy Storage, Innovation Center California, Volkswagen Group of America
Max Thum, Mechatronics Engineer, Innovation Center California, Volkswagen Group of America
Speaker Biographies
- Will Paxton, Senior Scientist, Energy Storage, Innovation Center California
Will Paxton is a Senior Scientist and Project Lead at Volkswagen Group of America’s Innovation Center California located in Belmont, CA. There he works as part of the Technology Scouting and Strategic Programs team on topics including lithium-ion battery state-of-health, machine learning and artificial intelligence, electric vehicle charging, sustainability, energy systems, and energy storage technologies. Before joining Volkswagen, Will worked with Ford Motor Company in Palo Alto, CA as an Electrification Project Lead and in Dearborn, MI as a Materials Research Engineer in energy storage. Will Paxton holds a Ph.D. from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
- Max Thum, Mechatronics Engineer, Innovation Center California
Max Thum holds a Master’s Degree in Automotive Engineering from the University in Ingolstadt, Germany. After working at AUDI AG in Germany, he joined Volkswagen Group of America’s Innovation Center California located in Belmont, CA in 2018. He is leading and contributing to different research initiatives within the automotive space. Most recent topics revolve around EV charging, decarbonization, renewable energy, and vehicle cloud infrastructure.
Abstract
As one of the world's largest automakers, Volkswagen Group is a leader in the development of battery electric vehicles (BEVs). BEVs offer a cleaner alternative to internal combustion vehicles and have lower lifetime cost of operation and carbon footprint. However, to realize the company's goal of carbon neutrality, we need to better understand the fast-evolving energy systems that charge our cars' batteries and power our operations. This talk will give a high level overview of the Volkswagen Group's view on the energy systems of the future and how they are working to provide sustainable mobility for our customers. The speakers will then highlight of some of the exploratory work we are doing at the Innovation Center California to optimize BEV charging to minimize associated grid carbon emissions.