Peak Energy Announces Liam O'Connor as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer

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May 22, 2024, 09:00 ET

Tech operating veteran joins as Peak Energy rapidly scales up sodium-ion battery manufacturing to secure future of renewable energy

DENVER, May 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Peak Energy, a U.S.-based company developing low-cost, giga-scale energy storage technology for the grid, has appointed Liam O'Connor as Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder. O'Connor joins the founding team as Peak Energy scales the first U.S. venture to advance proven sodium-ion battery technology to accelerate grid decarbonization and drastically reduce the cost of energy storage.

The rise in AI is putting massive pressure on the grid – the energy needed to power AI tasks is accelerating with an annual growth rate of 26-36%. The world needs a reliable storage solution to support this growth in a sustainable way. Sodium-ion is the optimal solution for grid-scale storage, offering a safer, more cost-effective way to power the future of AI. With a clear opportunity to make sodium-ion a new clean storage standard, Peak Energy launched last year to industrialize sodium-ion battery systems and establish the U.S. as a global leader in the sodium-ion market.

"Affordable and reliable energy storage is the key to unlocking the full potential of renewables, and sodium-ion is the proven, abundant, low-cost battery chemistry to make that a reality," said Landon Mossburg, co-founder and CEO of Peak Energy. "Liam's deep expertise in global operations and supply chain will be invaluable as we rapidly scale and begin deploying our sodium-ion systems next year."

As a member of Peak Energy's founding team, O'Connor reunites with ex-Tesla colleague Mossburg and battery industry veteran, Cameron Dales, President and Chief Commercial Officer, alongside a broader team with a track record of scaling some of the most iconic companies in energy, mobility, and batteries, including Tesla, Northvolt and Enovix. He brings two decades of operational leadership experience at some of the most successful technology companies in the world, including Tesla, Apple, and Lyft. O'Connor most recently was COO of Zipline, the world's largest autonomous drone delivery service. At Zipline he oversaw global operations and scaling in eight countries and led core functions including manufacturing, supply chain, and quality. Before that he led Tesla's global supply chain team and industrialization engineering, and before that managed the worldwide custom semiconductor and sensor supply chain at Apple.

"Environmental, geopolitical, and market pressures are all pointing toward an urgent need for a reliable, stable and domestic solution to clean energy storage," said O'Connor. "I've known this team for years, and we have the deep industry knowledge, technical expertise, and the conviction to make the U.S. the leader in sodium-ion battery technology. I'm looking forward to working with Landon, Cameron and the rest of the team to bring this vision to life at scale."

The addition of O'Connor comes on the heels of Peak Energy's launch from stealth last year with a $10 million seed round led by Eclipse and the battery and energy leaders at TDK Ventures. Next year, Peak Energy will begin deploying its sodium-ion systems, while also establishing the first domestic giga-scale battery factory for sodium-ion, with plans to open in 2026.

For more information on Peak Energy, visit www.peakenergy.com.

About Peak Energy
Founded in 2023, Peak Energy is a U.S.-based company developing low-cost, giga-scale energy storage technology to accelerate the renewable energy transition. Founded by industry veterans from Tesla, Northvolt and Enovix, the company is on a mission to accelerate grid decarbonization while drastically lowering the cost of energy storage and establishing the U.S. as a global leader in the sodium-ion market. For more information, visit www.peakenergy.com.

SOURCE Peak Energy