Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy Podcast
Welcome to Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, a podcast dedicated to unveiling the stories, insights, and strategies of the most influential leaders in the renewable energy sector. Our mission is to offer a platform where the voices of innovators, pioneers, and visionaries in renewable energy are amplified, sharing their journey, challenges, and triumphs with a global audience.
Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy Podcast
Small Change, Big Impact: How Joe Adiletta and Volexion Are Redefining Battery Breakthroughs
In this episode of Green Giants: Titans of Renewable Energy, host Wes Ashworth sits down with Joe Adiletta, CEO of Volexion and a veteran of the battery world, to explore what it really takes to commercialize deep tech innovation in one of the most capital-intensive and strategically vital industries of our time: lithium-ion batteries.
With two decades of experience spanning A123Systems, 24M, Ionic Materials, and now Volexion, Joe brings a rare blend of hard-won insight and strategic clarity. This isn’t a conversation about hype. It’s about navigating the messy, capital-constrained, slow-moving reality of energy storage innovation and doing it anyway.
Volexion’s approach? A conformal graphene coating, what Joe describes as a “wetsuit for cathodes.” It’s a subtle but powerful manufacturing innovation that improves battery performance without overhauling production lines. And it’s gaining traction globally.
But this episode goes far deeper than the tech. We unpack what it takes to build hard tech startups in the U.S., close the missing-middle funding gap, and lead teams through the emotional rollercoaster of building the next generation of industrial infrastructure.
In this episode, we cover:
- Why the cathode, not the anode, may be the most underleveraged opportunity in battery innovation
- How Volexion’s “small change, big impact” strategy drives measurable results with minimal disruption
- What it takes to turn university research into commercial materials shipped around the world
- The brutal realities of funding first-of-a-kind facilities and what hard tech really needs from investors
- Why battery breakthroughs haven’t followed the step-change model of software and why that’s okay
- How Joe leads through uncertainty and builds resilience inside small, mission-driven teams
Why it matters:
Energy storage is foundational to the electrification of everything. Battery innovation is a national priority. But meaningful progress doesn’t always look like sci-fi headlines. Sometimes, it’s a quiet revolution in materials science, backed by great people and smart capital.
Whether you're a battery nerd, an energy investor, or a founder navigating the tough terrain of cleantech startups, this episode is a must-listen.
Links:
Wes Ashworth: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weslgs/
- Email: wes@leegroupsearch.com
- https://leegroupsearch.com/green-giants-podcast/
- https://leegroupsearch.com/
