Former Chief Technical Officer and Co-founder, Tesla Motors
JB Straubel (Jeffrey B. Straubel) was part of the founding team and the Chief Technical Officer of Tesla Motors, an electric car company based in Palo Alto, California. At Tesla, Straubel oversees the technical and engineering design of the vehicles. He was also responsibile for new technology evaluation, R&D, technical diligence review of key vendors and partners, IP, and systems validation testing. Today, J.B. Straubel is an Independent Board Director at Tesla and is Founder & CEO, Redwood Materials. Redwood Materials aims to recycle lithium-ion automotive battery packs on a large scale.
Tesla
While Chief Technology Officer at Tesla, he oversaw the technical and engineering design of the vehicles. JB also had responsibility for new technology evaluation, R&D, technical diligence review of key vendors and partners, IP, and systems validation testing.
Volacom
Prior to Tesla Motors, Straubel was the CTO and co-founder of Volacom Inc. 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, JB co-invented and patented the new long-endurance hybrid propulsion concept that was later licensed to Boeing.
Rosen Motors
Before Volacom, JB Straubel worked with Harold and Ben Rosen at Rosen Motors as a propulsion engineer developing a new hybrid vehicle drivetrain based on a micro turbine and a high-speed flywheel. Rosen Motors ultimately closed but both main technologies carried on with commercial success, the turbine at Capstone Turbine (CPST) and the flywheel at Pentadyne Power Corp. JB was part of the early team at Pentadyne where he designed and built a 1st generation 150kw power inverter, motor-generator controls, and magnetic bearing systems.
Consulting
In the area of technical expertise, JB has consulted with VC firms Taproot Ventures and Kleiner Perkins in addition to several other private equity investors to conduct technical diligence reviews for many start-ups in the energy and clean technologies category. JB also consults with Amory Lovins at the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Education
JB has had a long personal passion for electric vehicles, including building an Electric Porsche 944 that held a world EV racing record, a Custom Electric Bicycle, and a pioneering new Hybrid Trailer System that he designed while in college. He received a B.S. in Energy Systems Engineering and a M.S. in Energy Engineering, emphasis on energy conversion, both from Stanford. Outside of Tesla Motors, JB is also an accomplished pilot and holds private pilot, instrument and multi-engine ratings.