Tesla official to speak

A co-founder and chief technical officer of Tesla Motors will share an overview of how advanced battery technologies and electric cars can pave the way toward energy independence and economic development, and how education and innovation plays a key role in reaching those goals.

JB Straubel will speak at the annual College of Engineering’s Distinguished Lecture Series on Oct. 11. His talk on the University of Nevada, Reno campus is titled: “Building a Clean Energy Future: Tesla and Nevada,” is free and open to the public. The program begins at 5 p.m. in the Joe Crowley Student Union.

He will talk about his passion for electric vehicles, an interest he developed early. He rebuilt a discarded electric golf cart at the age of 14 and has built a custom electric bicycle and an electric Porsche 944 that held a world electric vehicle racing record.

As a co-founder of Tesla, Straubel has overseen the technical and engineering design of the vehicles, focusing on the battery, motor, power electronics and high-level software sub-systems. He also has responsibility for new technology evaluation, research and development, all software, electronics and propulsion across Tesla’s portfolio. Straubel earned a bachelor’s degree in energy systems engineering and a master’s in energy engineering from Stanford University. He is also a lecturer at his alma mater where he teaches the popular Energy Storage Integration class in the Atmosphere and Energy Program.