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Tal Sholklapper

CEO Voltaiq

Tal Sholklapper is the CEO and Co-Founder of Voltaiq, Inc., a company focused on optimizing battery performance through advanced data analysis. Founded in 2012 and based in Berkeley, California, Voltaiq provides a software platform that tracks energy device performance throughout their lifecycle, enhancing development efficiency and reducing warranty risks associated with battery technology.1

Professional Background

  • Education: Tal holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also earned his M.S. and B.A. in related fields. His doctoral research concentrated on solid oxide fuel cells.1
  • Previous Roles:
    • Senior Research Associate at the CUNY Energy Institute (2011-2013), where he led projects on low-cost grid electrical storage.
    • Co-Founder & COO of Point Source Power, Inc. (2008-2011), focusing on innovative fuel cell technology.
    • Held various research positions at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, contributing to advancements in solid-state ionics and fuel cell technologies.1

Contributions to the Industry

Tal's work at Voltaiq addresses critical challenges in the battery sector, particularly regarding the adoption of electric vehicles and renewable energy solutions. By automating data management tasks and providing real-time insights into battery performance, Voltaiq aims to accelerate product development and optimize operational efficiency for its clients.1

Personal Insights

Tal is recognized for his creative approach to scientific challenges and has actively engaged with industry discussions on the future of battery technology and electric vehicles through platforms like LinkedIn.23

Highlights

Jun 12 · linkedin

Running the leading battery intelligence company, I'm constantly talking to people about batteries.

Inevitably, I’ll get questions about the latest and greatest battery to make the news.

That new battery that can cycle 30,000 times, the one that can charge in 5 minutes, the one made from free waste, or lasts 100 years, the list goes on.

Fun fact, I can make a single use primary AA battery cycle 1,000 times.

I can also make (almost) any battery charge in 5 minutes.

When I hear these new innovations, I always think back to the wonderfly cynical blog a few years back from Venkat Srinivasan, A step-by-step guide to battery breakthroughs.

In summary, by constraining the requirements in one or multiple dimensions, you can make it look like a hero in another!

For instance if I limit the state of charge window — e.g. How deep, or in this case how shallow, I discharge and charge a battery — I can make it last 1,000’s of cycles.

Similarly there’s a myriad of games people can play in small scale R&D “coin cells” to game performance, or creating “scaled” showcases of very large cells or an R&D cell powering an EV, that wouldn’t perform for any reasonable time in the real world.

Shout out to Steve LeVine for calling stuff like this out, as the general media community has no idea what questions to even ask.

To be clear, I don’t have a problem with these hero cells, they’re important to showcase where technology can go.

That said there should be very clear explanations of what compromises had to be made and how you’re planning to address them. 

This problem doesn’t just relate toward fundraising, but also internally at companies.

The former CTO of a solid state batter company told me that he thought his team’s resistance to modernizing data systems was because it would shine too much of a light on how they were selectively presenting data internally.

Similarly an auto exec said the teams don’t want to implement systems that can showcase battery defects and quality variation since the batteries are good enough, and they have massive incentives to ship products — put simply, it’s someone else's problem tomorrow.

It’s high time that the battery industry hold itself to a higher standard, to not only to decrease the well deserved trust gap the public and investor community has in battery companies, but also internally so that your teams can systematically work on addressing those challenges and get products to market.

Jan 11 · linkedin

Excited to partner with Siemens Digital Industries Software to provide customers with an integrated solution to help scale up and improve the quality of battery production. As startups and incumbents alike struggle to scale production efforts, the ability to produce high quality cells at volume will separate the winner from the losers.

Learn more here https://lnkd.in/gia8G3ca

https://lnkd.in/gnVWXQAb

#EnterpriseBatteryIntelligence #batteryintelligence #gigafactory #battery #manufacturing #production #quality

Related Questions

What inspired Tal Sholklapper to start Voltaiq?
How did Tal Sholklapper's background in solid oxide fuel cells influence Voltaiq's technology?
What are some of the key achievements of Voltaiq under Tal Sholklapper's leadership?
How has Tal Sholklapper's experience at Point Source Power shaped Voltaiq's approach?
What challenges has Tal Sholklapper faced as CEO of Voltaiq?
Tal Sholklapper
Tal Sholklapper, photo 1
Tal Sholklapper, photo 2
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Location

San Francisco Bay Area