Tesla co-founder, current board member, and former Chief Technical Officer JB Straubel joins me to discuss Tesla’s early days, his interest in batteries, building the first Gigafactory, his battery recycling efforts at Redwood Materials, and more. Enjoy!

TIMECODES

10:45 Interview starts
11:33 More of a car guy or engineering guy?
12:14 Origin of his interest in batteries
12:47 Building his first EV…long before Tesla
14:43 Did he always want to go to Stanford for engineering?
15:35 How JB met Elon
17:55 Recalling when he helped build the first Lotus Elise engineering mule for Tesla
18:43 JB still has his original Tesla Roadster
20:30 On the origins of Gigafactory 1, aka Giga Nevada
21:28 What car(s) JB daily drives
24:11 How Tesla acquired the NUMMI plant from Toyota
25:16 What were the challenges of building the Model S versus the Roadster
27:41 How JB felt when the Model S started winning awards, like Motor Trend’s Car of the Year
29:07 Did Panasonic get on board with Giga 1 right away?
32:21 How Model 3’s “production Hell” was for JB
33:33 When JB felt like Tesla was going to be OK
35:07 When he started thinking about battery recycling
36:41 How JB feels about EV FUD
38:08 Battery recycling actually leads to better quality batteries
39:17 Figuring out what it would take to start Redwood Materials
41:03 It’s not just about EV batteries
42:15 Redwood Materials’ not-so-secret master plan
43:48 Goals for scaling Redwood Materials
45:04 Expansion plans
46:20 A tidal wave of EV battery recycling is coming
47:24 How much education is needed on the corporate side?
48:42 What about educating the general public about battery recycling?
50:32 What can Tesla/EV owners do to help spread the word about battery recycling?
52:07 Yes, you can send your ready-to-be-recycled batteries to Redwood Materials

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to support my efforts, please check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/teslapodcast and consider a monthly pledge. Every little bit helps and there are stacking bonuses in it for you at each pledge level, like early access to each episode at the $5 tier and the weekly Lightning Round bonus mini-episode (AND the early access!) at the $10 tier! And NO ADS at every tier!

FOR FIRST-TIME TESLA BUYERS: The referral program is back and it's the best one in a while! You can get $2500 off of your Model 3 or $500 off your classic Model Y purchase (or $1000 off of Cybertruck, Model S, or Model X) by ordering through my referral link. Clicking this will take you to the Tesla website where you can order with the discount applied: https://ts.la/ryan73014

And don't forget to leave a message on the Ride the Lightning hotline anytime with a question, comment, or discussion topic for next week's show! The toll-free number to call or Skype is 1-888-989-8752.

INTERESTED IN AN EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR YOUR TESLA? Be a part of the future of transportation with XCare, the first extended warranty designed & built exclusively for EV owners, by EV owners. Use the code Lightning to get $100 off our “One-time Payment” option! Go to www.xcelerateauto.com/xcare to find the extended warranty policy that's right for you and your Tesla.

P.S. Get 15% off your first order of awesome aftermarket Tesla accessories at AbstractOcean.com by using the code RTLpodcast at checkout. Grab the SnapPlate front license plate bracket for any Tesla at https://everyamp.com/RTL/ (don't forget the coupon code RTL too!).

Tesla’s Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen joins me for the third time to celebrate my 500th episode. We discuss his longevity at Tesla, the new Model Y, paint colors, wheel design, the next-gen Roadster, and more. Enjoy!

Timecodes:

8:28 Start of interview

10:02 What Franz worked on the day I came in for the interview

11:38 Why he has stayed at Tesla so long (16+ years so far)

12:20 His longevity at Tesla is unusual in the design world

15:10 Tesla’s mission is what drives Franz

16:28 How his year-one-at-Tesla self would feel if he saw what the 2025 version of Franz is building

17:33 Reacting to seeing his work every day on the roads

18:45 What Franz thinks when he sees modded/customized customer cars

22:03 What he’s daily driving right now

24:54 Franz’s favorite thing he’s ever designed at Tesla

26:48 How Optimus has challenged him as a designer

29:23 Who wins when the design and engineering teams don’t agree?

30:45 An example of what happens when engineering and design work with each other to achieve a mutually agreeable solution

32:17 Does the Cybertruck FUD drive him nuts?

35:00 What design tweaks might we see in the new Model Y Performance?

40:05 Discussing the new diffused-light rear light bar

41:53 Will the Y’s new light bar be used on any future vehicles?

42:44 How he feels about badges on the outside of his cars

44:43 The turn signal stalk’s return on the new Model Y

46:47 Franz’s favorite wheel design that he’s ever done

50:36 Will we ever get more color choices versus simply refreshing the existing colors?

55:05 About the new Glacier Blue paint color

56:21 Are we getting Glacier Blue in the US?

56:55 Is Midnight Cherry Red discontinued at Giga Berlin?

58:44 How Franz is thinking about the next-gen Roadster now versus the original design for it from 2017

1:00:21 His design intentions/philosophy for the upcoming more-affordable cars

1:02:24 One more Roadster tidbit

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to support my efforts, please check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/teslapodcast and consider a monthly pledge. Every little bit helps and there are stacking bonuses in it for you at each pledge level, like early access to each episode at the $5 tier and the weekly Lightning Round bonus mini-episode (AND the early access!) at the $10 tier! And NO ADS at every tier!

FOR FIRST-TIME TESLA BUYERS: The referral program is back and it's the best one in a while! You can get $2500 off of your Model 3 or $500 off your classic Model Y purchase (or $1000 off of Cybertruck, Model S, or Model X) by ordering through my referral link. Clicking this will take you to the Tesla website where you can order with the discount applied: https://ts.la/ryan73014

And don't forget to leave a message on the Ride the Lightning hotline anytime with a question, comment, or discussion topic for next week's show! The toll-free number to call or Skype is 1-888-989-8752.

INTERESTED IN AN EXTENDED WARRANTY FOR YOUR TESLA? It’s not just products that can be redesigned. So can an entire customer experience. That’s what you get with XCare, the first extended warranty built exclusively for EVs, and the top-rated customer experience. Use the code Lightning to get $100 off our “One-time Payment” option! Go to www.xcelerateauto.com/xcare to find the extended warranty policy that's right for you and your Tesla.

P.S. Get 15% off your first order of awesome aftermarket Tesla accessories at AbstractOcean.com by using the code RTLpodcast at checkout. Grab the SnapPlate front license plate bracket for any Tesla at https://everyamp.com/RTL/ (don't forget the coupon code RTL too!).

Tesla’s Vice President of Engineering Lars Moravy joins me for a candid conversation spanning a wide-ranging number of topics, from the new Model Y to his memories of pivotal moments in Tesla history to the next-gen Roadster and even the upcoming more-affordable cars. Enjoy!

Timecodes:

6:39 Interview begins

7:36 Lars on when he first got into cars

9:42 Remembering his first job in the auto industry, at Honda, and what led him to Tesla

14:01 Early days at Tesla

15:19 He knew the Model S was going to be a special car

17:22 Engineering the falcon-wing doors of the Model X

19:34 The charger snake prototype and its “hubris”

20:21 The Cybercab will be road trip capable

23:26 The most satisfying vehicle project he’s worked on

26:07 Why Tesla doesn’t have any plans to build any more HFS vehicles

26:43 The Cybercab isn’t “painted” in the traditional sense

28:44 Remembering Model 3’s “production hell”

31:20 Tesla fully expected the Model Y to become the world’s best-selling vehicle

33:50 Building the next-gen Roadster prototype

35:36 Status update on the next-gen Roadster

40:55 Learnings from the Model 3 refresh that have been applied to the new Model Y

43:25 Balancing between pushing the envelope and playing it safe on the new Model Y

45:42 The reason the new Model Y doesn’t have steer by wire

47:25 Why the new Model Y doesn’t have a 48v architecture

48:54 The status of the Model S and Model X

50:45 What Lars daily drives

51:50 Why the new Model 3 doesn’t use gigacastings

52:38 Lars’s favorite piece of engineering on any of the cars

54:58 Will the front bumper camera come to the S, X, and 3?

55:09 Will the turn signal stalk return to any of the other vehicles besides Model Y?

55:38 A teaser for the upcoming more-affordable vehicles

If you enjoy the podcast and would like to support my efforts, please check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/teslapodcast and consider a monthly pledge. Every little bit helps and there are stacking bonuses in it for you at each pledge level, like early access to each episode at the $5 tier and the weekly Lightning Round bonus mini-episode (AND the early access!) at the $10 tier! And NO ADS at every tier!

FOR FIRST-TIME TESLA BUYERS: The referral program is back and it's the best one in a while! You can get $2500 off of your Model 3 or $500 off your classic Model Y purchase (or $1000 off of Cybertruck, Model S, or Model X) by ordering through my referral link. Clicking this will take you to the Tesla website where you can order with the discount applied: https://ts.la/ryan73014

And don't forget to leave a message on the Ride the Lightning hotline anytime with a question, comment, or discussion topic for next week's show! The toll-free number to call or Skype is 1-888-989-8752.

LAST CALL: Win the custom-configured Tesla of your dreams in the 9th annual Climate XChange raffle! The taxes are paid if you win, and either way, the money goes to a great nonprofit cause. To get your tickets, go to https://carbonraffle.org/RTL

Engineering innovation doesn’t just build great electric cars. It builds the foundation for an entire automotive ecosystem. And being a part of that means ensuring your Tesla is protected long after its original warranty expires. Get XCare, the first extended warranty built exclusively for EVs. Last chance to use our special anniversary code RTLOVE for $200 off our “One-time Payment” option! Go to www.xcelerateauto.com/xcare to find the extended warranty policy that's right for you and your Tesla.

P.S. Get 15% off your first order of awesome aftermarket Tesla accessories at AbstractOcean.com by using the code RTLpodcast at checkout. Grab the SnapPlate front license plate bracket for any Tesla at https://everyamp.com/RTL/ (don't forget the coupon code RTL too!).