VW bundles Elli and appoints Elke Temme as CEO

From 1 April 2021, the Elli brand founded in 2019 to develop products and services related to energy and charging at VW, will now be reassigned from the VW brand to the Charging and Energy business unit at Volkswagen Group Components. At the same time, Elli will now be headed by Elke Temme as CEO.

Elke Temme, who has been in charge of the Charging and Energy business unit since 1 January 2021, will take over the management of the Elli brand with its approximately 100 employees. Volkswagen says that its electric transformation, which they call the “E-Offensive,”  is about “shortening decision-making paths and bundling competencies”.

When it was founded in 2019, Elli Group GmbH, headquartered in Berlin, was said to develop products and services related to energy and charging for the brands of the German carmaking giant, yet it was based at the VW brand, not the group. Elli, (which is supposed to be short for Electric life), was to supply both the B2B fleet market and private customers in the B2C sector with charging solutions. The responsibility for the AC wallbox ID. Charger (and the offshoots of the Škoda, Seat and Cupra brands) lies with Elli. Elli also offers a nationwide green electricity tariff.

VW says there will be no change to Elli’s fundamental focus: “The aim of Elli is to build up a portfolio of electricity tariffs, wallboxes and charging points as well as an intelligent energy management system,” it said. “The aim is to create an integrated and sustainable ecosystem that addresses the most important use cases of our private and commercial customers and answers all energy questions of electric car users and fleet operators.” Or as Elke Temme puts it: “The goal is to accelerate the switch to electric cars with good charging solutions and to make charging possible for everyone!”

Elli was initially headed by Thorsten Nicklaß, who is to take on other tasks within the Group. “I would like to thank Mr Nicklaß for his work and outstanding commitment and wish him every success in his future role within the Volkswagen Group,” says Temme.

VW Group Components will now not only be home to the business field Charging and Energy but also the areas Platform and Drives (i.e. the classic component supply business), as well as the area Battery Cell and Battery System. Through this division, VW Group Components will also be responsible for the six battery cell factories in Europe announced at the company’s Power Day event.

volkswagen-newsroom.com (currently only available in German)