JB Straubel | |
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 Straubel in 2012 | |
| Born | Jeffrey Brian Straubel (1975-12-20)December 20, 1975 (age 50) Des Moines, Iowa, U.S. |
| Education | Stanford University (BS,MS)[1] |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2004–present |
| Known for |
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| Board member of | Tesla, Inc. |
| Spouse | |
| Website | www |
Jeffrey Brian Straubel[2] (/ˈstraʊbəl/; born December 20, 1975) is an American businessman and electrical engineer. He spent 15 years atTesla,[3] aschief 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 ofRedwood Materials, Inc., working on creating battery materials and products forlithium-ion batteries out of recycled batteries.
Straubel was born on December 20, 1975 inDes Moines, Iowa.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in energy systems engineering and a Master of Science in energy engineering fromStanford University.[5]
Straubel joinedTesla 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 firstGigafactory concept through the production ramp of the Model 3. He had a direct role inresearch and development, team building, and operational expansion from prototype cars through to mass production and expanding battery production togigawatt-hour scale. Straubel also had responsibility for new technology evaluation, technicaldue 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 atSolarCity. As the result of a court settlement, Straubel is legally considered to be a co-founder of Tesla.[9]
He was also a lecturer atStanford 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 ofVolacom along withHarold Rosen. Volacom worked closely withBurt Rutan atScaled 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 toBoeing.[12]
In the area of technical expertise, Straubel has consulted withventure capital firmsTaproot Ventures andKleiner Perkins, in addition to several other private equity investors, to conduct technical due diligence reviews for many start-ups in the energy andsustainable energy technologies category. Straubel is on the board ofQuantumScape and also consults withAmory Lovins at theRocky 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 electricPorsche 944 that earned the240 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 marriedBoryana 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 whereRedwood Materials was located.[19] She had worked as a manager inhuman resources at Tesla and was a vice president of human resources at theWikimedia 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 adouble yellow line on Old Highway 395 inWashoe County, Nevada and hit her head-on.[21] The driver was unlicensed.[22]
His photograph was taken in July 2006 drivingGovernorArnold Schwarzenegger in the Tesla Roadster at its unveiling inSanta 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" atStanford University along with former Secretary of State,George P. Shultz, where he emphasized the importance of education aboutclimate change, and decreasing theCO2 intensity of our current energy production methods.[25][26]
In early 2008,Stanford Magazine featured Straubel's role in growing theStanford 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" atPlug In 2008.[29]
In 2008, Straubel was namedInnovator 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'sEmtech conference on a panel on green transportation inBoston, 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 focuses on recovering valuable materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel from used lithium-ion batteries and manufacturing scrap so that these materials can be reused to produce new batteries. The company aims to reduce waste and support a more sustainable battery supply chain.[34]
Redwood Materials is a company established in Nevada by Straubel in 2017, to recyclelithium-ionautomotive battery packs on a large scale. As of August 2020[update], the company had been operating instealth mode as the technologies and processes weredeveloped to enable the company to begin operation in the early 2020s.[11]
On August 29, 2020, Straubel was interviewed byThe Wall Street Journal and revealed additional details:[35][36]
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.[38]
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 includedGoldman Sachs Asset Management,Baillie Gifford,Canada Pension Plan Investment Board,Fidelity,Valor Equity Partners,Emerson Collective andFranklin Templeton. Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Bill Gates’Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Amazon’sClimate Pledge Fund also returned to invest additional capital.[37]
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...
