March 29, 2022: The co-founder and CEO of Nevada-based Redwood Materials, Jeffrey Brian Straubel — best known as ‘JB’ — was presented with the Shep Wolsky Battery Innovator Award during the International Battery Seminar in Florida on March 29.
Straubel (above, inset) joined the Orlando conference remotely for the announcement of the award, which he received in acknowledgement of his lifetime achievements to date.
Prior to founding Redwood, Straubel spent 15 years at Tesla as co-founder and CTO, where he led cell design, supply chain and led the company’s first gigafactory concept.
He also had a direct role in both R&D, team building and operational expansion from prototype cars through to mass production and gigawatt-hour-scale.
The battery innovator award is presented annually in memory of Wolsky, who died in 2017.
Wolsky founded the seminar on his retirement and ran the event for 32 years, before selling up to Cambridge Enertech.
See this week’s ESJ Bulletin — published on 31 March — for a full report.