Bimotal team

Toby Ricco grew up inventing and entrepreneuring. He started his first business at age ten, and built his first EV at age 12. After building over a dozen electric vehicles in high school, he started his career as an engineering intern at Tesla at age 17. He completed his BS and MS in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley, and joined Tesla’s power electronics team where he quickly became a lead and architected, designed, and ramped production of electronics in the Powerpack, Powerwall, Model S, X, and 3. Toby's visionary perspective has led to his development of highly creative and functionally dense designs in the power electronics and powertrain fields. He holds patents ranging from novel inductor manufacturing methods to drive unit layout and novel gear topologies.

Chad Furey, or “motor Chad”, is the best of the best. He led much of the magnetics design and optimization for the Tesla Model 3 motor design and had his hand in Model S, Roadster, and Semi. Chad has developed electric motors for aerospace and the Ferrari F1 team, and is now the brains behind Bimotal’s world-class micro electric powertrains.

Bala Elango is an embedded software engineer with a master's degree in embedded systems engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Bala has gained extensive software experience over the past few years in the medical electronics and alarm system industries, as well as various side projects. Bala also enjoys playing soccer and supports Real Madrid.

Charl van de Merwe has four years of research and development experience in the rail sector of South Africa, where he worked primarily on locomotive traction control. He is in the final stages of completing his master's degree in control systems engineering from the University of Pretoria. His core competencies are embedded systems firmware, modeling and simulation, and control systems design.

Matt Rounds led the Formula SAE student team building both internal combustion and electric race cars while studying computer engineering at Cal Poly. He went on to develop embedded software for an aerospace startup building quadrotors with extreme flight time and payload capacity, progressing to lead both the custom battery management system firmware development team and integration of the flight controller and OTA update system. Matt directly applies his experience with ultra-robust automotive and aerospace systems, while building the software ecosystem for Bimotal's electric powertrains.

Andres Pastor holds a master's in industrial engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and a master's in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. A Matlab and analysis expert, he excels in modeling vibration modes, pedal response lag times, efficiency, and thermals. Andres designed gearboxes and bearing systems during his master's work and now brings his expertise to Bimotal.

Gerardo Castro is an engineering tech with a background in industrial design from San Francisco State University. In his free time, he can be found exploring the scenic routes in the East Bay on his bicycle, sketching on his notepad, or tending his small collection of bonsai plants.

Neil Flock started his own bike business generating millions in revenue servicing and distributing internally-geared hubs. Neil understands bikes, how to wrench on them, service them, and design them at an unrivaled level. He is a CAD wizard with a mechanical engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines and dreams of efficient gearboxes and belt drives.

Brooks Barrett is a mechanical engineer with 5 years of experience designing power electronics for Tesla. With dozens of parts in production, he has extensive knowledge of modern manufacturing technologies and design considerations for smooth production. Skilled in specialty materials and thermal management, Brooks is now helping Bimotal engineer ultra-dense and powerful battery systems.

Rajat Vyawhare is currently pursuing a Masters in mechanical engineering at the University of Washington. He has a deep passion for designing and building things. In his free time, he find immense joy in the great outdoors. Whether it's hiking through scenic trails, exploring new cities, or simply going on long drives, he's always up for an adventure.

Jack O'Neal races mountain bikes on his high school cycling team and loves working on is bike.       He started his own photography buisiness at 15 and started an american rocketetry challenge team at his high school. Jack loves the technical aspects of taking high quality photos and videos and is a passionate future engineer!

Charissa McManis has a background in financial services and proptech startups. She enjoys using creativity to solve business problems. Charissa has a business degree from San Francisco State and is a licensed realtor. She lives with her partner, son and Pembroke Welsh Corgi in Walnut Creek.

Swadhin Gite was head of hardware engineering and production at Stenon GmbH. Previously, he developed thermal cameras for the German Armed Forces and Deutsche Bahn. Swadhin can design and lay out any circuit board, efficiently debug controls issues, and bring electronics from concept to high-volume production.

Sofia Pereira is a mechanical engineering intern with a background in physics from Cornell University. During her work as a research assistant in an observational cosmology lab, Sofia discovered her passion for the physical applications of her degree. She loves instrumentation and hardware design, and is excited to learn more about design for manufacturing and consumer use.