Jason Badeaux

The cheapest possible carbon-free US grid involves vastly more centralized renewable energy, but it also involves vastly more distributed energy. What’s more, far from being alternatives, they are complements: the more DERs you put in place, the more centralized renewables you can put on the system. DERs are a utility-scale renewable accelerant.The... See more

Tesla’s vision is simply batteries everywhere, for everything, all the time. And that means Tesla is going to need to produce a lot of batteries.

This is a very new technology. It could be decades before it is developed enough to be put into a car. The high levels of cobalt could also be a huge issue. Not only is cobalt more than twice as expensive as any other battery metal, but its mining is environmentally and humanely dubious. Many companies, including Tesla, want to have cobalt-free... See more

An example of Tesla’s manufacturing innovation is its use of giant mechanical presses that can save substantial manufacturing time by forging single car bodies and individual car panels alongside its near-fully automated production with little human handling from beginning to end. Tesla’s different approach to auto manufacturing starts with single... See more

Blockchains are an alternative system for promise enforcement, fundamentally different from any system human history has seen before. Promises in blockchain systems are enforced by miners, who — in reasonably competitive mining markets — have limited ability, and weak incentives, to do anything other than execute others' promises roughly according... See more

Complexity science, also called complex systems science, studies how a large collection of components – locally interacting with each other at small scales – can spontaneously self-organize to exhibit non-trivial global structures and behaviors at larger scales, often without external intervention, central authorities or leaders. The properties of... See more

Tesla recognized the complex supply chain in the automotive industry and revolutionized it through vertical integration across its factory, including battery and electric motor production. At its recent AI day, Tesla revealed its in-house AI training chip (called the D1 Dojo chip). The chip, based on itself, would be ranked in the top 10 super... See more

A LiO² battery is also known as a lithium-air battery (Li for lithium, O² for oxygen). Unlike the Li-ion or LFP batteries in EVs today, a lithium-air battery uses oxygen ions to store energy, not lithium ions. This difference means their internal structure and chemistry needs to be entirely different from established battery technology.... See more

Based on actual quotes and comments from VCs and folks in the industry. Hindsight is 20/20 but if you’re an entrepreneur getting a lot of nos, you’re in good company.