Auto Motive Power, Inc. (AMP), Paramount, California, announced today the appointment of four new members to the company’s advisory board effective June 30, 2020. Joining the advisory board are Gene Berdichevsky, Kurt Kelty, Phil Weicker and Troy Nergaard.
“Gene, Kurt, Phil and Troy are industry EV, battery and charging leaders. I am honored to have them bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and connections to AMP. They bring decades of leadership in key areas, such as investment strategies, strategy implementation, and technology development, that are vital to our future operations and strategy,” said Anil Paryani, Auto Motive Power CEO. “Gene and Kurt’s counsel and expertise will bring energy to our boards and strengthen AMP’s commitment to rapid growth and enhancing mission-critical solutions to better serve our employees, customers, and shareholders.”
Gene Berdichevsky
Gene Berdichevsky is the Co-Founder & CEO of Sila Nanotechnologies, a battery materials company that enables lighter, higher energy density lithium-ion batteries for mass adoption of electric vehicles, longer-lasting portable electronics, and broader use of renewable power sources. Prior to co-founding Sila, Gene was the seventh employee at Tesla Motors where he served as Principal Engineer on the Roadster battery, leading the development of the world’s first, safe, mass-produced, automotive lithium-ion battery system.
Gene holds two degrees from Stanford University; an MS in Engineering with a focus on energy and materials, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He has co-authored 42 patents and 4 academic publications. Gene has been named to the Forbes 30 under 30 list, the MIT Technology Review 35 Under 35, and was a recipient of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.
Kurt Kelty
Kurt Kelty is the VP of Automotive at Sila Nanotechnologies. Kelty brings more than 25 years of experience in the battery industry, including 11 years at Tesla, where he most recently served as Senior Director of Battery Technology. There he was responsible for leading numerous key initiatives, including setting the company’s battery cell usage strategy, delivering the batteries implemented in the Roadster, Model S/X and Model 3, and leading partnerships and material sourcing efforts at the Gigafactory, among many others.
Prior to Tesla, Kelty was Director of Business Development at Panasonic, where he founded the U.S. battery R&D lab. Kelty is fluent in Japanese and holds a BA in Biology from Swarthmore College and a Master of Science from Stanford.
Phil Weicker
Phil is the author of the number one book in the field, ‘A Systems Approach to Lithium Ion Battery Management’ and has appeared on Jay Leno‘s Garage for holding the world record for fastest land speed in a hot tub.
Phil is in charge of Powertrain/Electronics at Canoo. For more than 15 years, Phillip Weicker has been committed to the advancement of battery technology and electric vehicles, earning him 36 patents along the way. After completing his Masters in Computational Electromagnetics from Canada’s McGill University, Phil started as an engineer in 2004 at Mentor Infolytica, now a Siemens company.
In 2008, he joined EnergyCS, which was later acquired by Coda Automotive. Phil worked his way up from Senior Electrical Engineer to Engineering Manager and ultimately to Sr. Engineering Director.
From 2013 to 2015, Phil worked as Director of Battery Systems for QuantumScape, a top venture capital backed San Jose startup working on solid-state batteries, supported by Volkswagen.
Prior to Canoo, Phil spent more than two years at electric vehicle startup Faraday Future where he was Sr. Director of Battery Systems
Troy Nergaard
Troy is currently the CEO of Doosan GridTech. Doosan helps integrate distributed energy resources, such as solar and wind power, into the world’s power grids. Prior to Doosan, Troy was a Sr. Engineering Manager of charging at Tesla Motors. He also spent four years working at AeroVironment, the original creator of the GM Impact, on a variety of power electronics systems. Troy earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and a MS degree in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech with a focus on power electronics.
About Auto Motive Power Inc. (AMP)
AMP manages energy for e-mobility applications. Specifically, AMP provides electronics and software for managing batteries and charging. AMP helps create amazing mobility experiences for the top EV OEMs in the global market.
