We're so excited to share this ep with you! This is a little different to our usual podcasts, focusing on the incredible journey of Nico Murillo. Nico’s story has captured the imagination of so many. Like many of his colleagues, he too was laid off by Tesla this year. That's despite the dedication he displayed in his role as Production Supervisor at the EV company. He'd been above and beyond. To avoid the 90-minute commute, Nico had been sleeping in his car and showering at the factory. Determin...
Jun 18, 2024•36 min
In a Take Charge first, we welcome a guest from the world of Electric Boats. Frank Heidinger the Founder and CEO of HALEVAI has a compelling story. He comes from a super interesting background and his vision is one we're sure you can get behind. Their mission is simple, to make boating easier and cleaner for everyone. We talk about their boat and battery specifications, target market, the nature of boating and how is easily it can become more cost effective, efficient and cleaner. Frank shares s...
Jun 11, 2024•55 min
When did power banks for smart phones become a thing? It’s a product and market that’s been born simply because our batteries can’t keep up with the increased amount we’re using our smartphones… as well as the applications on them zapping more power, with the biggest culprit being Artificial Intelligence. Well, this is a problem that today’s guest is tackling. Samira Naraghi joins us, who is the SVP of Product & Sales at Enovix. Now Enovix’s technologies will be compatible to many applicatio...
May 28, 2024•40 min
Commercialising Solid-state batteries! A very difficult undertaking. Well, Natrion Inc are on a mission make this happen, with their Solid-state Electrolyte Component technology. First of all, Jamie would like to apologise for how many times he used the word ‘impressive’ in this episode. He got a little carried away.... But with good reason. Co-Founders, Alex Kosyakov, the CEO, and Thomas Rouffiac, the COO, justify the title! They also made the Forbes 30 under 30 list for the Energy Category thi...
May 21, 2024•33 min
Can heat really be a battery’s friend? Jamie is joined by Said Al-Hallaj who is a Chief Battery Scientist at Beam Global. Beam Global acquired AllCell in 2022, which is a company Said founded all the way back in 2008, so Said of course joined in this acquisition. Jamie and the Strativ Group team caught his presentation at the Battery Show in Michigan last year and since then we've been very keen for him to Take Charge! Said starts by talking us through the eVTOL downtime issue, then how their so...
May 14, 2024•36 min
Today's a slightly different episode, as we're joined by Akhil Batheja, VP Business Development, at the hydrogen giant Bloom Energy. Like myself, I’m sure there’s a fascination about the hydrogen industry amongst us battery folk. So Akhil, gives us a crash course - talking through the differences and similarities to the battery industry, including application areas. He talks us through some of their projects including their recent announcement with Shell and their story of establishing the world...
May 07, 2024•29 min
With CATL's recent statement that "Solid-State Batteries won't work", this episode is perfectly timed! I'm joined by the solid-state giant, Blue Solutions, who are arguable one of the most advanced solid-state companies in the world. Adrian Tylim joins me, who has a Masters in Energy Systems Engineering, he’d had an incredibly successful career in the renewables industry. Including some impressive work with NASA, he's also been a successful founder & CTO before joining Blue Solutions in 2018...
Apr 30, 2024•38 min
Should having children affect your career progression? Does taking a leave of absence influence your bosses' perception of you? Do you avoid telling your boss or prospective employer that you're planning on starting a family? 2 guests from Morrow Batteries take charge today; Adriana Navarro-Suarez (R&D Manager) and Naja Boone (Director of Marketing & Communications). Adri is completing an amazing piece of research into how a 'leave of absence' affects careers in the battery & energy ...
Apr 23, 2024•40 min
Why are so many battery start-ups failing? Does our world need more chemistries, or more batteries? Why should you manufacture in the US? For a Take Charge first, we're joined by a father & son duo; Johnnie and Taylor Stoker, Co-Founders of Ultion Technologies located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Johnnie is the CEO, who founded and grew K2 Energy to become a leader in the LFP space. During his successful 18 year tenure, with plenty of those spent in China, he learned invaluable lessons and recently...
Apr 16, 2024•51 min
As a battery technology start-up, how fast should you scale? Today’s guest, Damien Despinoy has the benefit of assessing and investing in energy storage businesses prior to co-founding Volexion in 2020. As the CEO, Damien talks us through their growth activities and what the future holds them, providing insights on ideal scaling pace. He gives his assessment on the current investment landscape across the battery industry, as well as talking us through their widely compatible drop-in graphene enc...
Apr 09, 2024•44 min
In this audio episode, Jon Bornstein, the President of Amprius Labs joins me to discuss the dynamic world of silicon, their recently expanded production facility in Fremont, their upcoming gigafactory in Colorado and how silicon will accelerate future of battery technologies and electrification. Over the past 11 years, Jon has been on an amazing journey with Amprius, so it was a real pleasure to speak with him about the challenges endured and landmarks achieved. Jon, thank you for Taking Charge....
Mar 13, 2024•26 min
ION Storage Systems join me this week, with the VP of Supply Chain Neil Ovadia (top of screen) and the CTO Gregory Hitz (bottom of screen) sharing insight on the history of solid-state batteries, starting with why we still don’t have a commercialised one! ION Storage Systems look to change this, as they share their 3-Dimensional approach. We talk about compression, safety, manufacturing, supply chain and much more. We'll be watching their future with interest, as they attempt to tackle the solid...
Feb 28, 2024•50 min
Hieu Duong, the Chief Manufacturing Officer of AM Batteries joins me to discuss their dry battery electrode manufacturing process, whilst discussing his experience with Maxwell Technologies and Tesla post acquisition. We acknowledge their recent $30M series B funding round and what this means for the business, whilst talking through the various opportunities dry process manufacturing presents in the United States. As well as reduced costs, increased efficiency and environmental benefits, this pr...
Feb 22, 2024•28 min
Our guest for this episode is Charlotte Flanagan, who joined Group 14 Technologies last year as the Director of Diversity &Belonging, and recently broadened her role to also cover Sustainability. Diversity Equity & Inclusion is a topic I’m very passionate about. I released an article on the subject in May last year and I’ve been waiting for the right guest to join me on the podcast to delve deeper into the topics… until now! Charlottehas over 10 years of experience focusing on DEI with t...
Feb 13, 2024•53 min
It was great pleasure to welcome our long-term client Ionblox Inc to the show, as Sujeet Kumar, the Co-Founder & CEO joins me to discuss Silicon Anode Technologies, XFC, Consumer Adoption and China v US manufacturing. As a business founder since 2007, armed with a PhD in Materials Science, Sujeet provides some of his best advice to fellow battery professionals. Sujeet, thank you for Taking Charge! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Feb 06, 2024•46 min
I’m joined today by Robert Neivert, who is the CEO of Ionobell. Rob has also spent 10 years in VC, with plenty of exciting ventures to his name. He’s an engineer turned entrepreneur, and his unique pathway to establishing Ionobell isn’t one to be missed. Rob brings so much energy to this podcast, using his VC experience to provide exceptional insight and advice to those looking to raise investment, whilst maintaining and optimising exciting investor relations, he essentially provides a step-by-s...
Jan 23, 2024•53 min
I’m joined today by the Founder of Sente Ventures; Serhat Cicekoglu. Sente Ventures are a VC firm, with a strong interest in energy storage, and a portfolio including the likes of Our Next Energy, NiveauUp and Ni-Cat. 2023 hasbeen a turbulent year to say the least when it comes to investment, and Serhat does a great job in offering perspective and advice to our community. Serhat is a person with real credibility, and I love the way he articulates investing in energy storage. This isn’t one to be...
Jan 16, 2024•56 min
Dr. Barbara Hughes Takes Charge, who is the Vice President of Energy Storage at Forge Nano. With a PhD in Materials Chemistry, Barbara has enjoyed over 15 years in interfacial nanomaterials chemistry and novel battery applications, leading the technical efforts for the battery innovation line at Forge Nano. Barbara is also the Chair of She’s in Power, a fantastic non-for-profit, providing a hands-on mentorship program, designed to grow and inspire the women who will be tomorrow’s clean energy le...
Jan 09, 2024•39 min
In episode 8 Nick Grundish, the VP Battery Technologies at EnergyX Takes Charge. Nick was included in the Forbes 30 under 30 list for Energy Storage in 2023 and was also mentored by the late Professor John Goodenough. Nick talks us through his experience of being mentored by the great Professor, whilst imparting knowledge and experiences during his young and fast-paced career to date. Nick also provides plenty of advice on getting perspective, addressing imposter syndrome and generally advancing...
Dec 19, 2023•47 min
I’m joined today by Ramachandra (Ram) Revur, who is the Co-Founder & COO of NavaFlex (formerly FlexEnergy LLC). The press you see around Batteries and Electrification is typically across EV, Energy Storage and eVTOL, but in this episode, we spotlight wearables and flexible batteries as a market with great potential. Ram talks us through the different application areas, such as medical, military and construction, how batteries can survive in the washing machine and why this industry has a bri...
Dec 12, 2023•48 min
Thank you to the New York Fire Department for the video that opens this podcast. It’s a scary reminder of how important battery safety is, as we scale these technologies to electrify our future. It’s alarming when you think about all the times you’ve been close to an e-bike, at a café, walking down the street or sat in traffic. Brian Morin, the Founder & CEO of Soteria joins me to talk all things battery and e-bike safety, highlighting some eye-opening figures from their recent research proj...
Dec 05, 2023•37 min
Telo Trucks Take Charge in this episode, as I’m joined by Co-Founders, Jason Marks (CEO) who appears on the left of the screen and Forrest North (CTO) on the right. We talk about the EV Truck market and their mini-EV Truck, which is designed by the world-renowned designer Yves Behar, who is also a Co-Founder, as well as the Chief Creative Officer at Telo. I really enjoyed talking to the guys about how trucks got so big in North America, the safety and efficiency issues it has brought and how the...
Nov 28, 2023•55 min
The Chief Operating Officer of Li-Metal; Keshav Kochhar joins on this episode to talk through their anode, PVD and reprocessing technologies, whilst highlighting the importance of local supply chain due to recent tightening on graphite export from China. Coming from a diverse industry background, Keshav also shares his transition into battery technologies, whilst providing insight into building operational functions such as HR and supply chain, highlighting when to bring operational functions in...
Nov 21, 2023•59 min
Todd Peters has been a senior leader at the likes of Intel, Microsoft and most recently; BrightVolt. His experience of working in large companies amongst leaders such as Andy Grove, whilst also leading agile start-ups has allowed him to gain a unique perspective. Todd imparts career and culture advice during two sections of this conversation; the first part is all about providing career advice to battery professionals, do I stay in academia or go into industry? Do I join a small or large company...
Nov 13, 2023•1 hr 4 min
The Co-Founder & CEO of TexPower EV Technologies joins me in today's very cathode conversation. TexPower builds upon innovations led by the late Prof. John B. Goodenough and Prof. Arumugam Manthiram, who is also the Chairman and Co-Founder of TexPower. Evan shares the story of founding a battery start-up just before the pandemic, whilst advising on raising investment, the benefits of NMA cathodes, completing a PhD, forming partnerships and much more. Evan, it's your time to Take Charge! Host...
Nov 13, 2023•54 min
The VP of Growth Operations at SES AI, Aseem Juneja is our esteemed guest on this episode. Aseem talks us through the challenges and essentials when growing battery teams, whilst sharing his experience of scaling SES AI from 19 to over 260 people. We also highlight the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion when scaling, creating a positive culture to help start ups thrive! Aseem, it's time to Take Charge! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Nov 12, 2023•39 min
