Who are you? Where are you?
I'm the CEO of ReVolt Technology. I travel about 75 or 80% of my time, split between the United States, all over Europe, and, as of late, I've been spending quite a bit of time in China expanding our business.
What does ReVolt Technology do?
We're working on the next generation of energy storage. Developing rechargeable zinc-air batteries that can run your Blackberry for three times longer than it does today, or an electric vehicle for 500 miles, or providing energy storage for tomorrow's wind and solar energy generation systems.
Are we talking about changing the world?
Well, certainly trying to transform it, make it a little bit of a better place to live in, a cleaner place to live in.
Has ReVolt actually sold a battery yet?
We're pre-revenue at this point. Our first commercial launch is in 2012 with a line of consumer products. And we've recently won $20 million in grant funding from the government of Germany and the US Department of Energy to generate large-format rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles. And, in 2009 we received a pretty substantial investment from RWE in Germany of about €5.5 million to support our our focus long-term on next-generation energy storage for wind and solar. With the launch in 2012 we will have been the first company in almost 60 years of attempts by various companies large and small to successfully commercialize rechargeable zinc-air batteries.
In two years ReVolt will have...
We will have hopefully just finished an IPO and driving towards a market cap of close to $1.5 billion.
You have a new Non Executive Chairman at ReVolt. You recently called him a rock star. Why?
Well, in any type of high-tech start-up, it's not the norm to have a well-established company's CEO sitting on your board as a Non Executive Chairman. We have John Searle, the current Chairman of the management committee and, effectively, the CEO for the Saft Battery Corporation (a very successful publicly listed French company). This gentleman has done some amazing things in his career and he's still at it. And now he's sitting on our board, helping us carve out the vision for where we need to take the company next. It's very unusual for companies in this stage of growth to be drawing in that calibre of talent. We're very fortunate, and very happy to have him.
And are you a rock star?
Well, I don't think I look like a rock star. I think people probably consider me more of a bulldog than a rock star.
Why's that?
I'm pretty tenacious. I don't always have the most eloquent way of getting things done. I'm pretty straight-forward, head-on, hard-headed. And I just keep coming at it.
The hottest, most exciting thing about being a CEO right now...
It's one word. China. The opportunities for a cleantech CEO in China are staggering
What other European companies excite you?
I'm really excited about what the automotive OEMs in Europe are doing as a whole, out at the front working on some really interesting platforms for next-generation automobiles, particularly for plug-in electric vehicles. The European Automotive OEMs are inspirational and trying to lead the way. There is also another cadre of really exciting start-up ompanies working on various bits and pieces within the ecosystem that we're going into. HeliaTek, ChapDrive and Quiet Revolution... You have to admire the moxie that these guys have to step up and create the next generation variants of wind and solar production.
For more information on ReVolt's new non-exec:
John Searle Joins ReVolt Technology as Non-Executive Chairman
Email to friend
Calle Francisco Pérez Cabrero, 13-SA 1a, 08021, Barcelona, Spain | +34 934 194 021
