Elsa De Geer is hooked on batteries
19 NOVEMBER 2019
Less than six months after completing Scania’s trainee programme, Elsa De Geer is the component owner for a battery. As a development engineer in Energy Storage Design at the Research & Development department, De Geer’s job also involves solving technical challenges within areas such as electrical safety and vibration resistance, as well as working out how to fit all the components, especially the batteries, on the truck. The puzzle rarely works out on the first try.
It wasn’t inevitable that De Geer would end up at Scania. She was aiming to take a PhD in biotechnology, when Dennis Honkanen, a friend from their time together at Lund University, called and told her all about his great job working in Electric & Hybrid Powertrain Technology at Scania. It was a job that he thought De Geer would enjoy even more than he did.
When she first started, De Geer’s assignment was emission control. But during her time as a trainee, she’d read about e-mobility, so she swiftly changed assignments to battery technology.
“I’d like to work with technology for the rest of my life. That’s why I chose an area that I believe will keep on developing for a long time to come.”
Electric vehicles developing quickly
As a development engineer, De Geer puts a lot of effort into the performance of the batteries. In the future, she hopes the batteries will keep more energy and be charged at a higher speed, while still fulfilling all the safety requirement
“Electric vehicles will surpass today’s vehicles since this new technology is developing extremely quickly. That is also a challenge for us working with battery development. Our components don’t last for that long and we continuously need to upgrade them so the customers will buy our trucks and buses.”
But De Geer is ready for the challenge. It’s when the experts struggle with solving difficult technical issues that she enjoys herself the most.
“We’ll fix this, that’s my gut feeling.”
