Will Regan, President and Co-founder of Pacific Fusion, is helping spend $1+ billion to mimic the sun’s method for producing energy. In our third fusion episode, Will educates us on inertial confinement. He discusses the advancements that help smooth Pacific Fusion’s path to delivering commercial energy by the mid-2030s. 

00:00 Welcome to Tech Cars Episode 58 

04:09 Introduction to Pacific Fusion 

07:24 Will Regan’s Journey to Pacific Fusion 

10:57 Explaining Fusion and Inertial Confinement 

19:12 The Engineering and Science Behind Fusion 

21:15 Physical Description of Pacific Fusion’s Facility 

26:03 Understanding Marx Generators 

29:16 Fusion Chamber and Magnetic Compression 

32:34 Energy Output and Power Plant Efficiency 

35:17 Handling Neutrons and Chamber Protection 

38:55 Manufacturability and Supply Chain 

“Twisty donuts” if you lean Republican, “French cruller” if you lean left. CEO and Co-founder Brian Berzin, describes how this shape and a focus on manufacturability will allow Thea Energy to deliver fusion energy in a cost-competitive manner.  

Following up on last week’s episode with Dr. Scott Hsu of Lowercarbon Capital, Brian discusses the innovative approach Thea Energy is taking to commercialize fusion energy. The conversation covers the company’s origins in the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab, and their groundbreaking ‘stellarator’ design. Brian explains how modularization, software and AI helps overcome the fiendishly difficult construction of stellerators. He shares insights into the company’s rapid iteration and development cycles, culminating in their goal to scale up to commercial levels.  

00:00 Welcome to the Fusion Energy Series 

01:06 Introducing Brian Berzin and Thea Energy 

11:46 Technical and Financial Milestones 

14:54 Understanding Fusion: A Simplified Explanation 

23:58 Challenges and Breakthroughs in Stellerators 

29:30 Innovations in Superconducting Magnets 

34:52 The Role of Software in Magnet Control 

41:07 Scaling Up to Commercial Relevance 

48:45 First Walls and Blankets in Fusion Reactors 

51:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Why have the biggest names (such as Bill Gates, Lowercarbon Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Google and Sam Altman) put billions into dozens of fusion energy companies? An engaging, accessible discussion with Dr. Scott Hsu on the fascinating world and private company ecosystem of the fusion energy. Scott was with with the DOE where he helped allocate $100MM of fusion R&D investment. He is now Partner at Lowercarbon Capital. We explore the fundamentals of fusion, compare magnetic and inertial confinement methods, and discuss innovative companies like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Pacific Fusion, Thea Energy, Xcimer and Avalanche Energy. Scott explains why there’s new hope for making fusion commercially viable in the coming years. He highlights the challenges and opportunities in building the necessary infrastructure. 

00:00 Introduction 

01:42 Scott’s Background and Career 

02:39 Lowercarbon Capital and Fusion Investments 

10:42 Fusion Basics and Scientific Principles 

19:57 Magnetic and Inertial Fusion Approaches 

22:52 Understanding the Magnetic Confinement (Commonwealth, Thea) 

23:35 Challenges of Plasma Confinement 

25:31 Innovations in Modern Tokamaks 

29:17 Exploring Alternative Fusion Devices (Pacific Fusion, Avalanche) 

32:40 Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion (Xcimer) 

41:26 Future of Fusion Energy

Protecting $500 billion dollars of real estate value: Mike Zukerman, CEO of CSAA, an $8 billion carrier of insurance distributed through AAA Clubs, tells how technology helps protect that massive asset. He tells us how enterprise technology can “surprise and delight” CSAA’s 3 million policy holders, and how self-driving cars will change insurance strategy.   

00:00 Introduction to Mike Zukerman & CSAA 

01:40 Understanding CSAA and Its Business 

04:24 Remote Work and Employee Satisfaction 

08:30 Mike Zukerman’s Background and Career Journey 

11:57 The Future of Auto Insurance and Autonomous Vehicles 

18:51 Understanding Auto and Home Insurance Regulations 

20:10 Challenges of Homeowners Insurance in California 

21:55 Innovative Wildfire Mitigation Technologies 

29:16 Leveraging AI for Customer Delight in Insurance 

35:03 Why CSAA is a Great Place to Work

Jeff Huebner, Head of Mobilitas, discusses how he helps his commercial transportation networks manage their second-high expense: insurance. Ride sharing networks, last-mile delivery networks, and autonomous vehicle companies are his customers, and an enormous amount of customization and data ingestion and processing is involved. 

00:00 Introduction 

00:53  Jeff Hubner’s Background and Reconnection 

01:48  Understanding AAA, CSAA, and Mobilitas 

04:33  Mobils’ Mission and Services 

06:25  Jeff Hubner’s Career Journey 

08:35  Risk Management and Commercial Insurance 

11:16  Market Trends and Innovations 

24:21  Data Integration and Risk Management 

32:37  Advances in Vehicle Technologies 

34:47  Final Thoughts

Episode 53: Making fleet electrification easy, with Alan White of Siemens. 

Alan details Siemens Depot 360’s comprehensive offerings to provide a turnkey, commercially attractive path for electrifying vehicle fleets. 

00:00 Introduction to Siemens  

02:08 Introduction to Depot 360 

02:37 Benefits and Challenges of Electrification 

03:30 Siemens Smart Infrastructure 

05:26 Alan White’s Background and Career 

07:36 Depot 360’s Operational Insights 

16:25 Global Electrification Trends and Challenges 

30:22 Predictions and Closing Remarks 

Episode 52: Building the Future of Electric Trucking with Anja Van Niersen

Anja Van Niersen, CEO of Milence, discusses plans to establish a charging network for European long-haul trucking. Milence is a 500MM Euro joint venture amongst Daimler, Traton and Volvo trucks.

00:00 Introduction to Milence

03:04 Anja’s background and career

03:10 Milence’s mission and operations

12:41 The profile of a charging hub

16:47 Future of heavy-duty/long-haul trucking

23:15 Geographical footprint and infrastructure development

30:00 Future enablers

37:26 The role of consumers and market demand

40:03 Optimism for adoption

Live from Anaheim! I was at the world’s premier event for sustainable commercial transportation. Here’s a brief ~10-minute recap of key trends regarding China, electrification, sustainability’s future, and regulation. The highlight for me was driving a massive “day cab,” the driver part of a semi-truck.  You can see the video at www.gtkpartners.com/act25

In this milestone 50th episode of Tech. Cars. Machines., Patrick Macdonald-King, CEO of Greenlane, discusses plans to establish a charging network from the port of Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Greenlane is a $650MM joint venture amongst Daimler Trucks North America, NextEra Energy Resources, and BlackRock, and a leading, if not the leading, charging network for medium- and heavy-duty trucks. 

00:00 Welcome to Episode 50: Milestone Celebration 

03:28 Interview with Patrick Macdonald-King

04:27 Greenlane’s Nationwide Network and Strategy 

05:29 Patrick Macdonald-King’s Career Journey 

08:11 The Role of OEMs in Charging Infrastructure 

18:50 Hydrogen as a Future Path 

25:47 Mapping Out Deployment Strategies 

26:22 Greenlane’s Charging Infrastructure 

32:29 Future-Proofing with Scalable Solutions 

35:49 California’s Role in Electrification 

37:25 Technological Needs and Industry Partnerships 

41:06 Long-Term Vision and Industry Predictions

Lux Capital General Partner Shahin Farshchi, PhD, talked with me about his background, Lux’s history, and how the firm came to position itself as the leading investor in hard-tech. A focus on outstanding teams, market readiness, patience and taking the lead from entrepreneurs on the “next great sector” has led to investments such as Anduril, Aurora, Databricks, Hugging Face, Matterport, Nirvana, Planet Labs, Zededa and Zoox.

Note the “skip to” audio time stamps below.  You can read the related article here in 3 minutes.

Links to Lux Capital and Shahin.  Host: Ali Tabibian of GTK Partners.

On some podcast players you can click to jump to the timestamps below.

(1:44) Introduction to Lux

(6:14) Shahin’s background and initiative in managing your career

(20:49) Investment selection process

(34:30) Focusing on the long-term

(37:33) The next big things