JB Straubel was the CTO of Tesla and is now the CEO of Redwood Materials. Redwood Materials had $700 million of funding in July, 2021.
In an interview below, JB says he was amazed that legacy automakers did not rapidly follow Tesla after the success of the Model S. This was in 2012. Car companies gave Tesla a relatively unchallenged decade to get profitable at scale.
Tesla now has the Model 3 and Model Y at scale and has locked up battery supply and other key parts of the supply chain in long-term contracts.
The announcements by all of the big automakers and countries that there will make a massive shift to electric cars does not appear to be well thought out or planned. The new entrants will face a series of supply chain bottlenecks.
They have to make compelling cars. They will have to make compelling cars profitably. They will have to make large high capacity factories. They will need batteries, cathodes, anodes and all of the components and elements. As companies are finding today, they will computer chips.
Written By Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com (Brian owns shares of Tesla)
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
