Drew Baglino on Tesla’s Master Plan

Editor’s note: For the holiday break, we’re bringing you one of our most popular episodes of the year — a conversation about Tesla’s Master Plan 3 with Drew Baglino, who stepped down as the company’s senior vice president for powertrain and energy in April.

Tesla’s Master Plan Part 3 lays out the company’s model for a decarbonized economy — and makes the case for why it's economically viable. It outlines a vision for extensive electrification and a reliance on wind and solar power. 

In this episode, Shayle talks to one of the executives behind the plan, Drew Baglino, who was senior vice president for powertrain and energy at Tesla until April when he resigned. In his 18 years at Tesla he worked on batteries, cars, and even Tesla’s lithium refinery. Shayle and Drew cover topics like:

• Why Drew isn't sure that AI-driven load growth “is going to be as dramatic as people think”
• Drew’s optimism about the U.S.’ ability to build out enough transmission for decarbonization
• How to deal with the high rates of curtailment and what to do with that excess power
• Meeting the material requirements of decarbonization and Drew’s experience with permitting Tesla facilities 

Recommended Resources:

Tesla: Master Plan Part 3

CNBC: Tesla execs Drew Baglino and Rohan Patel depart as company announces steep layoffs

The Carbon Copy: AI's main constraint: Energy, not chips

Catalyst: Understanding the transmission bottleneck

Catalyst is brought to you by EnergyHub. EnergyHub is working with more than 70 utilities across North America to help scale VPP programs to manage load growth, maximize the value of renewables, and deliver flexibility at every level of the grid. To learn more about their Edge DERMS platform and services, go to energyhub.com.