Robert Lane is an engineering leader with 13 years of experience in leading technological innovation. During his time at Tesla, his signal harness designs featuring flexible circuits were incorporated into the Model S, which reduced production costs dramatically. Also at Tesla, he led the innovation for all pack system technologies: thermal systems (liquid, air, and phase change), flexible circuit technologies for current collecting as well as signal harnesses, and safety-related technologies to prevent thermal runaway. Most notably, he was responsible for the materials that allowed Tesla to go from 1 cell PPR to 21 cell (42 cell with an alternate design). These efforts trickled into both Model 3 and the Tesla Powerwall II. Prior to this, at Proterra, Inc., Robert was responsible for making test setups that overcharged, heated, nailed cells and modules to characterize safety. In this role, he also made a super capacitor short circuit tester that could simulate a battery shorting a module to characterize the short performance. Robert co-founded Manaflex with Alan Liao in 2017. The company facilitates engineering customer designs from concept to production, as well as designing and making its own equipment.