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United States Jb Straubel, a visionary electrical engineer, co-founded Tesla and is now leading advancements in sustainable battery technology through Redwood Materials.
In 2019, Panasonic, Tesla's battery partner, began a partnership with Redwood to reclaim the scrap it generates in making battery cells: all of the scrap from Panasonic’s side of the Nevada Tesla Gigafactory is now shipped to Redwood.
This new partnership with Redwood Materials, run by CEO J.B. Straubel, the first chief technology officer at Tesla, focuses on "localizing the ..."
In 2020, Redwood closed its first fundraising round with $40 million raised from Capricorn Investment Group and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an environmental investment fund that includes Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates.
As part of Amazon’s continued commitment to The Climate Pledge, a $2 billion venture investment program to back companies building technologies, products and services that will help Amazon and other companies accelerate the path to net-zero carbon, Redwood Materials received an investment. Redwood will be able to offer Amazon and other companies sustainable ways to recycle batteries, electronics and other end of life products through environmentally-sound processing and refining technologies that create a sustainable, circular supply chain. Redwood Materials will also help Amazon properly recycle EV and other lithium-ion batteries and e-waste from other parts of Amazon’s businesses and reuse their components.
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.
J. B. Straubel served as a lecturer at Stanford University for the 2015-2016 academic year, teaching energy storage integration classes (CEE 176C & CEE 276C) in the Atmosphere and Energy Program. He also currently serves on the Graphic School of Engineering Dean's Advisory Council since 2018.
Jeffrey Brian Straubel, born on December 20, 1975, in Des Moines, Iowa, is an American businessman and electrical engineer known for his pivotal role at Tesla, Inc., and his subsequent entrepreneurial venture, Redwood Materials. Straubel earned both a Bachelor of Science in energy systems engineering and a Master of Science in energy engineering from Stanford University. His early career exhibited a passion for electric vehicles, exemplified by building an electric Porsche 944 that achieved a world electric vehicle racing record in 2000. Prior to joining Tesla, he was the CTO and co-founder of Volacom, where he co-invented a hydrogen-powered electric propulsion concept later licensed to Boeing. This foundation in advanced energy systems and electrical engineering laid the groundwork for his future contributions to the electric vehicle industry.
Straubel joined Tesla in 2004 as its fifth employee and was instrumental in the company’s development, serving as its inaugural Chief Technical Officer until July 2019. In this role, he oversaw critical areas including battery cell design, supply chain management, and the initial concept and production ramp-up of the Gigafactory for the Model 3. His responsibilities also encompassed research and development, team building, and expanding battery production to gigawatt-hour scales. He was involved in new technology evaluation, technical due diligence for key vendors, intellectual property development, and systems validation testing. His efforts were crucial to Tesla’s growth from prototype vehicles to mass production. In 2023, he was elected to Tesla’s board of directors, maintaining his connection to the company he helped build.
In 2017, Straubel founded Redwood Materials, Inc., a company dedicated to creating battery materials and products for lithium-ion batteries from recycled sources. This initiative focuses on driving down costs and addressing the environmental impact of battery production. Under his leadership, Redwood Materials has formed significant partnerships, including one with Panasonic in 2019 to recycle scrap from battery cell manufacturing. The company has also secured substantial investments from entities like Capricorn Investment Group, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (which includes Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates), and Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, underscoring its potential in developing a circular supply chain for battery materials. Straubel also contributed to academia as a lecturer at Stanford University in 2015-2016, teaching energy storage integration classes.
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