Chip Leigh: Building Sustainable Housing, Electric Vehicles, and Energy Resiliency

Chip Leigh is a seasoned engineer with experience at both Tesla and Rivian. In this conversation, we delved into the intricacies of building electric vehicles, energy management, creating resilient microgrids, and the science behind constructing sustainable housing. With key insights like "What we all want is a 400 mile range toaster oven on wheels," and "Not only can you charge your car from your home, you can now charge your home from your car," this conversation is a deep dive into the intersection of technology and sustainability.

EPISODE LINKS:

• Chip Leigh's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chip-leigh/
• Chip Leigh's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LeighLabs
• Chip Leigh's Website: https://www.leighrenewables.com/
• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=92367620
• Xeal Energy: https://xealenergy.com/
• Nuvve: https://nuvve.com/
• Redwood Materials: https://www.redwoodmaterials.com/

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00:00) Rivian: The good, the bad, the ugly

(00:04:30) Why don't they make bigger EV batteries?

(00:06:29) Tesla vs Rivian Market Strategy & Culture

(00:08:47) What about those Rivian bucket seats

(00:10:19) Chip's background and building self reliant homes

(00:13:31) Making building homes and own ownership accessible

(00:16:23) Thinking about the money side of building DIY homes

(00:18:13) Scientific approach to building the process

(00:21:18) Superadobe

(00:22:49) Free solar panels

(00:24:17) Chip's background

(00:25:23) Chip at Tesla

(00:30:12) Building with shipping containers in fire country

(00:32:07) Building underground

(00:32:56) Embodied energy building costs

(00:33:33) But how comfortable will it actually be?

(00:38:06) What does the end blueprint look like and who is it for?

(00:44:54) How much will it cost me?

(00:46:31) California, our survival, and energy dependency

(00:49:05) Energy infrastructure

(00:52:21) Blackouts in California

(00:54:30) Energy resiliency

(01:01:53) Optimal energy and EV charging tactics

(01:06:39) Electric isn't always the best

(01:09:47) Types of energy and nuclear

(01:12:58) Micro nuclear plants

(01:17:34) Energy startups and opportunities

(01:19:18) Vehicle to grid energy

(01:23:21) EV technology interoperability

(01:25:29) Portable EV chargers

(01:27:16) How do we get denser energy?

(01:28:19) $5.5B EV infrastructure bill, and why it's going to the wrong place

(01:33:38) Flatten the energy consumption curve

(01:36:42) Electronic waste

(01:40:22) JB Straubel's Redwood Materials

(01:41:27) Closing

CONNECT:

• Website: https://hoo.be/elijahmurray
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@elijahmurray
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elijahmurray
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elijahmurray
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elijahmurray/
• Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-long-game-w-elijah-murray/
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/41cmMiImWDxs88s71v96qk
• RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/3e31c0c/podcast/rss