
In this episode, Emily Kirsch converses with Bertrand Piccard, the co-pilot of Solar Impulse—the first solar-electric plane to circumnavigate the globe. Bertrand, a Swiss aviator, dedicated 15 years to this mission, aiming not just for a technical feat but to demonstrate the extraordinary capabilities of renewable energy.
Martin Eberhard is an engineer, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and inventor on at least 29 patents. In 1996, Eberhard founded NuvoMedia with his colleague, Marc Tarpenning, where they developed the Rocket eBook, the first eBook with secure internet delivery of content. Eberhard and Tarpenning founded Tesla Motors, where Eberhard was its original Chairman, and served as its CEO until late 2007. Since leaving Tesla Motors, Eberhard has served as Director of EV Development at Volkswagen and Chief Science Officer at SF Motors. Eberhard currently serves as Founder, Chairman, and CTO at Tiveni, a company designing safer, denser, and lower-cost EV batteries. Bertrand Piccard is a psychiatrist and explorer who has achieved two significant aeronautical milestones: flying around the world non-stop in a balloon and, more recently, in a solar-powered airplane without fuel. He is a pioneer in viewing ecology through the lens of profitability. In the early 2000s, he began promoting renewable energies and clean technologies. As Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation, he has selected over 1,000 profitable solutions to protect the environment and support clean growth.
”I would say that a hundred percent of the EV industry today, all traces back to Tesla and all traces back to that Tesla Roadster. He didn’t just see it as a novel technical feat—he wanted to prove the extraordinary capabilities of renewable energy.”