2023 Rising Stars: Automakers & Suppliers

Big break: Leading Clarios’ Smart AGM technology breakthrough to the market to address a long-standing technical challenge of the lead-acid battery

Wei Song likes a challenge and has spent her career seeking them out. Now director of global product line leader at battery supplier Clarios, Song arrived in the U.S. from China in 2007 planning to pursue academia. But her career trajectory changed after a one-year co-op program at Toyota introduced her to the auto industry.

Graduating with a master’s in bioproducts and biosystems engineering from the University of Minnesota, Song began her career in R&D at Toyota. In 2011, she was recruited by Clarios, then part of Johnson Controls, to be a design engineer. Song faced the major challenge of transitioning to a customer-facing role. 

“It turned out to be a great decision, even surprising myself,” Song said. “I enjoy working with customers a lot, and I’m very good at it.” 

In the following years, Song helped shift the relationship between Clarios and its customers to be less transactional and more of a partnership. As technical account manager in 2017 and 2018, for example, she was key to the supplier’s efforts to synchronize battery technology development with automakers’ evolving vehicle development cycles. 

Under Song’s model of early collaboration, Clarios did not wait for final specifications from automakers, but began by helping them “identify the right battery for improved vehicle system performance, while shortening the development time significantly,” she said. 

Her biggest challenge came in 2021 when she transitioned to product management. In that assignment, she led a team that shepherded Clarios’ breakthrough Smart AGM technology to market. 

The patent-pending innovation addresses a technical challenge that has limited the potential of lead-acid batteries since their invention in 1859. 

With Smart AGM technology, she said, “we can still leverage a lot of good advantages of the traditional lead-acid battery, but then bring in electronics, software and diagnostics.” 

“Now,” she said, “we can meet the new generation of vehicle requirements, but through a relatively cheaper way compared to other technologies.” 

Song built and presented the business case for Smart AGM to executive leaders and received approval for an investment of more than $20 million. She hopes to continue along a leadership path in product management. 

“I led the team through a lot of uncertainties, both internal or external. And I continuously guided the team on scope and priority to align with the rapidly changing needs of the market,” she said. 

That’s a role that Song feels is worth getting up every day to do.

— Paige Hodder