PowerCo SE has appointed René Reif as its new Chief Operations Officer (COO) and member of the Board of Management, effective April 1, 2026, succeeding Sebastian Wolf, who is leaving the Volkswagen Group at his own request.
Reif, who joined PowerCo in 2025, most recently led development of the company’s gigafactory in St. Thomas. In his new role, he will oversee the planning, construction and operation of battery cell factories across Europe and North America, including sites in Salzgitter, which is already operational, and Sagunt, currently under construction.
Before joining PowerCo, Reif spent more than 30 years at Daimler AG, holding senior roles across multiple international markets, including Brazil and China. Most recently, he was responsible for operations at the Mercedes engine plant in Berlin.
He replaces Sebastian Wolf, who joined PowerCo in 2021 from the European division of Farasis Energy and played a central role in building up the company’s operations function. During his tenure, PowerCo achieved key milestones, including the commissioning of its first gigafactory in Salzgitter at the end of 2025.
“Sebastian Wolf played a key role in developing the standard factory concept and shaped the start-up phase of PowerCo through the ‘Line Zero’ validation line and the construction of cell factories in Salzgitter, Valencia and St. Thomas,” said Thomas Schmall, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of PowerCo SE. “On behalf of the entire PowerCo SE, I would like to express my gratitude for his dedication and wish him every success in his future role.”
Wolf’s next position has not been disclosed. The engineer, educated at RWTH Aachen University, the University of Bath and Tsinghua University, previously held roles at Volkswagen Group, Bosch, the Boston Consulting Group and Farasis Energy.
Schmall said Reif’s appointment reflects PowerCo’s focus on scaling its global manufacturing footprint. “With René Reif, we have gained a highly experienced production expert. For more than three decades, he has built and managed factories and global production networks around the world,” he said. “Under his leadership, we will continue to systematically ramp up the cell factories in Salzgitter, Valencia and St. Thomas and further strengthen PowerCo’s global production network.”