Quick Facts
SagittariusBiography
Jeffrey Brian Straubel (born December 20, 1975) is part of the founding team of Tesla Inc. He was the inaugural Chief Technical Officer until moving to an advisory role in July 2019.At Tesla, Straubel oversaw the technical and engineering design of the vehicles.Straubel also had 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 was also on the Board of Directors for SolarCity. He is also a lecturer at his alma mater, Stanford University, where he teaches the Energy Storage Integration class in the Atmosphere and Energy Program.
In 2017, JB established a company, Redwood Materials, working on the recycling of lithium-ion battery and e-waste.
Public recognition
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.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.
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 P. Shultz, where he emphasized the importance of education about climate change, and decreasing the CO2 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, 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.
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 energy 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, on October 21, 2000, earned the 240 V SC/B world electric vehicle racing record.
Straubel received a B.S. in Energy Systems Engineering and an M.S. in Energy Engineering, with emphasis on energy conversion, both from Stanford University.
