J. B. Straubel | |
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Born | Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. | December 20, 1975
Alma mater | Stanford University (BS, MS) [1] |
Occupation(s) | Businessman, technology executive, electrical engineer |
Known for | CTO of Tesla, Inc., founder & CEO of Redwood Materials, Inc. |
Board member of | Tesla, Inc. |
Spouse | |
Website | www |
Jeffrey Brian Straubel [2] (born December 20, 1975) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He spent 15 years at Tesla, [3] as chief technical officer until moving to an advisory role in July 2019. [4] In 2023, he was elected to the company's board of directors.
In 2017, Straubel founded and became the CEO of Redwood Materials, Inc., working on creating battery materials and products for lithium-ion batteries out of recycled batteries.
Straubel holds a Bachelor of Science in energy systems engineering and a Master of Science in energy engineering from Stanford University. [5]
Straubel joined Tesla as its fifth employee in 2004, [6] and is named as a co-founder. [7] He was its inaugural chief technical officer [3] until moving to an advisory role in July 2019. [4]
At Tesla, Straubel led battery cell design, supply chain and led the first Gigafactory concept through the production ramp of the Model 3. He had a direct role in research and development, team building, and operational expansion from prototype cars through to mass production and expanding battery production to gigawatt-hour scale. Straubel also had responsibility for new technology evaluation, technical due diligence review of key vendors and partners, intellectual property, and systems validation testing. [8] In addition to his work at Tesla, Straubel was also on the board of directors at SolarCity. As the result of a court settlement, Straubel is legally considered to be a co-founder of Tesla. [9]
He was also a lecturer at Stanford University for the 2015-2016 academic year, where he taught the energy storage integration classes (CEE 176C & CEE 276C) in the Atmosphere and Energy Program. [10]
In 2017, Straubel established Redwood Materials, working on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries and e-waste. [11]
Prior to Tesla, Straubel was the CTO and co-founder of Volacom along with Harold Rosen. Volacom worked closely with Burt Rutan at Scaled Composites to design a specialized high-altitude aircraft platform using a novel hydrogen-powered electric power plant. At Volacom, Straubel co-invented and patented a new long-endurance hybrid propulsion concept that was later licensed to Boeing. [12]
In the area of technical expertise, Straubel has consulted with venture capital firms Taproot Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, in addition to several other private equity investors, to conduct technical due diligence reviews for many start-ups in the energy and clean energy technologies category. Straubel is on the board of QuantumScape and also consults with Amory Lovins at the Rocky Mountain Institute. [13]
Although he did not originally intend to work in the automobile industry, Straubel has long had a passion for electric vehicles. He built an electric Porsche 944 that earned the 240 VSC/B [14] world electric vehicle racing record in 2000. [15]
Four years after leaving Tesla, Straubel was elected to its board as an independent director in May 2023. [16]
On August 3, 2013, Straubel married Boryana Dineva and they lived in Woodside, California. [17] In 2015 she gave birth to twins. [18] When Straubel left as CTO at Tesla in July 2019, they moved to Nevada where Redwood Materials was located. [19] She had worked as a manager in human resources at Tesla and was a vice president of human resources at the Wikimedia Foundation for one year. [20]
On June 19, 2021, Boryana was killed while cycling in a designated bike lane in a rural area when a car crossed a double yellow line on Old Highway 395 in Washoe County, Nevada and hit her head-on. [21] The driver was unlicensed. [22]
His photograph was taken in July 2006 driving Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Tesla Roadster at its unveiling in Santa Monica, California. [23]
Popular Science magazine featured Straubel in a full-length article in April 2007. [24]
In September 2007, Straubel spoke on an energy panel titled "Clean, Secure, and Efficient Energy" at Stanford University along with former Secretary of State, George P. Shultz, where he emphasized the importance of education about climate change, and decreasing the CO2 intensity of our current energy production methods. [25] [26]
In early 2008, Stanford Magazine featured Straubel's role in growing the Stanford presence at Tesla. [27]
Straubel was honored to keynote the Stanford Alumni EDAY in July 2008. [28] Also in July 2008, Straubel spoke on a transportation panel "Progression Toward EVs" at Plug In 2008. [29]
In 2008, Straubel was named Innovator of the Year by MIT's Technology Review in their annual TR35 innovators in the world under the age of 35. [30] [31] He spoke at MIT's Emtech conference on a panel on green transportation in Boston, MA in September 2008. [32]
In March 2012, Straubel spoke at the DESIGN West conference, produced by UBM Electronics, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA. [33]
Redwood Materials is a company established in Nevada by Straubel in 2017, to recycle lithium-ion automotive battery packs on a large scale. As of August 2020 [update] , the company had been operating in stealth mode as the technologies and processes were developed to enable the company to begin operation in the early 2020s. [11]
On August 29, 2020, Straubel was interviewed by The Wall Street Journal and revealed additional details: [34] [35]
In June 2021, Redwood announced plans to expand its Carson City, Nevada facility to 550,000 square feet. Plans were also revealed to build another facility at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center and to recruit 500 more employees. [37]
In July 2021, Redwood raised $775 million from investors and venture firms. Investment management group T. Rowe Price Associates led a Series C round of funding that included Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Baillie Gifford, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Fidelity, Valor Equity Partners, Emerson Collective and Franklin Templeton. Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund also returned to invest additional capital. [36]
Fernley is a city in Lyon County, Nevada, United States, and part of the Reno–Tahoe-Sparks metropolitan area CSA. The city was incorporated in 2001. The population of the city was 22,895 at the 2020 census, making it the 7th most populous city in Nevada.
The tZero is a hand-built electric sports car designed and built in very limited numbers by the U.S. pioneering company AC Propulsion in the mid 1990's. It was the inspiration and direct predecessor of the Tesla line of electric cars. The only part of the tZero that was not proprietary was the body that was based on the Piontek Sportech sports car, yet many parts of the body and interior were extensively modified. It consists of a Kevlar & Carbon Fiber reinforced body built over a custom hand-built reinforced stainless steel fabricated to package batteries space frame with double wishbone independent suspension and rack and pinion steering. AC Propulsion utilized their AC-150 drivetrain, a single-speed electric system with an overall gear ratio of 9:1.
Tesla, Inc. is an American multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas, which designs, manufactures and sells battery electric vehicles (BEVs), stationary battery energy storage devices from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar shingles, and related products and services. The company is also developing artificial intelligence and robotics products.
Martin Eberhard is an American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Tesla, Inc. with Marc Tarpenning in 2003, where Eberhard was its original CEO serving until late 2007. In 2015, he was inducted into the University of Illinois Engineering Hall of Fame.
The lithium iron phosphate battery or LFP battery is a type of lithium-ion battery using lithium iron phosphate as the cathode material, and a graphitic carbon electrode with a metallic backing as the anode. Because of their low cost, high safety, low toxicity, long cycle life and other factors, LFP batteries are finding a number of roles in vehicle use, utility-scale stationary applications, and backup power. LFP batteries are cobalt-free. As of September 2022, LFP type battery market share for EVs reached 31%, and of that, 68% was from Tesla and Chinese EV maker BYD production alone. Chinese manufacturers currently hold a near monopoly of LFP battery type production. With patents having started to expire in 2022 and the increased demand for cheaper EV batteries, LFP type production is expected to rise further and surpass lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxides (NMC) type batteries in 2028.
Battery recycling is a recycling activity that aims to reduce the number of batteries being disposed as municipal solid waste. Batteries contain a number of heavy metals and toxic chemicals and disposing of them by the same process as regular household waste has raised concerns over soil contamination and water pollution. While reducing the amount of pollutants being released through disposal through the uses of landfill and incineration, battery recycling can facilitate the release of harmful materials from batteries to both the environment and the workers recycling batteries.
Valence Technology, Inc. was a company that developed and manufactured lithium iron phosphate cathode material as well as lithium ion battery modules and packs. The modules come in 12 V, 18 V, 24 V, and 36 V configurations. Valence's products are used in electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) such as cars, scooters, motorbikes, and commercial vehicles such as buses, delivery vans and trucks. Valence batteries are also used in wheelchairs, medical carts, robotics, marine, rail, as well as stationary applications such as remote power, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), energy storage systems, frequency regulation and switching gear.
An electric vehicle battery is a rechargeable battery used to power the electric motors of a battery electric vehicle (BEV) or hybrid electric vehicle (HEV).
Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) Loan Program is a $25 billion direct loan program funded by Congress in fall 2008 to provide debt capital to the U.S. automotive industry for the purpose of funding projects that help vehicles manufactured in the U.S. meet higher mileage requirements and lessen U.S. dependence on foreign oil. Of the 108 requests made, 5 were approved to receive $8.4 billion, with the majority of that amount under repayment.
SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. is a company that developed a DC optimized inverter system.
Gigafactory Nevada is a lithium-ion battery and electric vehicle component factory in Storey County, Nevada, United States. The facility, located east of Reno, is owned and operated by Tesla, Inc. The factory supplies battery packs and drivetrain components for the company's electric vehicles, produces the Tesla Powerwall home energy storage device, and assembles the Tesla Semi. It is the largest and the first Tesla Gigafactory in the world. If fully built out, the building will have the largest footprint in the world.
Fisker Inc. is an American automotive company founded by Danish automotive designer Henrik Fisker and his wife Geeta Gupta-Fisker.
Home energy storage devices store electricity locally, for later consumption. Electrochemical energy storage products, also known as "Battery Energy Storage System", at their heart are rechargeable batteries, typically based on lithium-ion or lead-acid controlled by computer with intelligent software to handle charging and discharging cycles. Companies are also developing smaller flow battery technology for home use. As a local energy storage technologies for home use, they are smaller relatives of battery-based grid energy storage and support the concept of distributed generation. When paired with on-site generation, they can virtually eliminate blackouts in an off-the-grid lifestyle.
Usage of electric cars damage people’s health and the environment less than similar sized internal combustion engine cars. While aspects of their production can induce similar, less or different environmental impacts, they produce little or no tailpipe emissions, and reduce dependence on petroleum, greenhouse gas emissions, and deaths from air pollution. Electric motors are significantly more efficient than internal combustion engines and thus, even accounting for typical power plant efficiencies and distribution losses, less energy is required to operate an electric vehicle. Manufacturing batteries for electric cars requires additional resources and energy, so they may have a larger environmental footprint in the production phase. Electric vehicles also generate different impacts in their operation and maintenance. Electric vehicles are typically heavier and could produce more tire and road dust air pollution, but their regenerative braking could reduce such particulate pollution from brakes. Electric vehicles are mechanically simpler, which reduces the use and disposal of engine oil.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, abbreviated as CATL, is a Chinese battery manufacturer and technology company founded in 2011 that specializes in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage systems, as well as battery management systems (BMS). The company is the biggest EV battery manufacturer, with a global market share of around 37% in 2023.
Northvolt AB is a Swedish battery developer and manufacturer, specialising in lithium-ion technology for electric vehicles. Founded in 2015 by two former Tesla executives, it commissioned its first manufacturing plant in Skellefteå, Sweden in 2021 and has announced plans for five others in Europe and North America.
Boryana Dineva Straubel was a Bulgarian businesswoman and philanthropist who emigrated to the United States. She managed a family foundation that focused on environmental sustainability. She founded a jewelry company, Generation Collection, to promote environmental sustainability through the recycling of metals. She was a manager in human resources at Tesla, the electric car company. She married Tesla executive J. B. Straubel in 2013. In 2015, she became the vice president of human resources for the Wikimedia Foundation for one year. As she was bicycling in a designated lane in Nevada in June 2021, a car crossed the center line and struck her, killing her instantly.
Redwood Materials, Inc. is an American company headquartered in Carson City, Nevada. The company aims to recycle lithium-ion batteries and produce battery materials for electromobility and electrical storage systems. Redwood Materials was reported to have a valuation of about $3.7 billion as of July 2021.
The Climate Pledge Fund is a division of Amazon, set up to develop and manage investments in the climate technology space, as part of its Climate Pledge initiative. It is a corporate venture capital fund.
American Battery Technology Company, formerly American Battery Metals Corporation, is a US-based battery recycling technology startup founded in 2011. It employs a hydrometallurgical process to recycle batteries and a targeted extraction system to extract raw materials from primary resources.
On July 1, 2003, Eberhard and Tarpenning incorporated their new company. " "The third desk was occupied a few months later by Ian Wright..." "...the three men went hunting for some venture capital funding in January' 2004." "With an investment of $6.5 million, Musk had become the largest shareholder of Tesla and the chairman of the company." "Straubel stopped by the office for a meeting, and was hired right away in May 2004...
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