JB Straubel is 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. Straubel also has responsibility for new technology
evaluation, R&D, technical diligence review of key vendors and partners, IP, and systems
validation testing. In addition to his work at Tesla, Straubel
is also on the Board of Directors for Solar City. He is also a lecturer at his alma mater,
Stanford University, where he teaches the popular Energy Storage Integration class in
the Atmosphere and Energy Program. Biography
In 2008, Straubel was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators
in the world under the age of 35. He spoke at MIT's Emtech conference on a panel on green
transportation in Boston, MA in September 2008.
Straubel was honored to keynote the Stanford Alumni EDAY in July 2008. In July 2008, Straubel
spoke on a transportation panel "Progression Toward EVs" at Plug In 2008. In early 2008,
Stanford Magazine featured Straubel's role in growing the Stanford presence at Tesla
Motors. In September 2007, JB spoke on an energy panel
titled "Clean, Secure, and Efficient Energy" at Stanford University along with former Secretary
of State, George Shultz, where he emphasized the importance of education about climate
change, and decreasing the CO 2 intensity of our current energy production
methods. Popular Science magazine featured Straubel
in a full-length article in April 2007. His photograph was shown in The Economist
in July 2006, taking Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for a drive at the Tesla Roadster unveiling
in Santa Monica, California. In March 2012, Straubel spoke at the DESIGN
West conference, produced by UBM Electronics, at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose,
CA. Prior to Tesla Motors, 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
the new long-endurance hybrid propulsion concept that was later licensed to Boeing.
Before Volacom, Straubel worked with Harold Rosen and Benjamin M. 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 and the flywheel at Pentadyne
Power Corp. Straubel was part of the early team at Pentadyne where he designed and built
a 1st generation 150 kW power inverter, motor-generator controls, and magnetic bearing systems.
In the area of technical expertise, Straubel 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.
Straubel also consults with Amory Lovins at the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Although he did not originally intend to work in the automobile industry, Straubel 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. Straubel received a B.S. in Energy Systems
Engineering and an M.S. in Energy Engineering, emphasis on energy conversion, both from Stanford
University. Outside of Tesla Motors, Straubel is also
an accomplished pilot and holds private pilot, instrument and multi-engine ratings.
References
External links Official JB Straubel website