Ex-Tesla SVP Drew Baglino Launches Heat Pump Startup Sadi Thermal Machines
Former Tesla Senior Vice President Drew Baglino has quietly launched his second company since departing the electric vehicle giant and this time, his sights are set on transforming how homes are heated and cooled. The Drew Baglino heat pump startup, named Sadi Thermal Machines, was incorporated in June 2025, according to company filings reviewed by TechCrunch in Delaware and California.
Turning Tesla Expertise Into Home Energy Innovation
Sadi Thermal Machines shares its Scotts Valley, California headquarters with Heron Power, Baglino’s other venture, which develops and sells solid-state transformers. The startup’s name is a nod to Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, the 19th-century French physicist whose foundational work underpins modern thermodynamics and the heat pump itself. The company appears to employ several Tesla alumni, according to LinkedIn profiles and a source familiar with the startup.
Baglino spent nearly two decades at Tesla, contributing to projects ranging from the original Roadster to the Powerwall and Powerpack energy storage systems. By the time he departed in April 2024, he had risen to Senior Vice President overseeing the development of electric motors, batteries, and power electronics. He is also listed as an inventor on a Tesla patent for a thermal management system operating two coolant loops one for the battery, another for drivetrain components which forms the design basis of Tesla’s advanced octovalve system, first introduced in the Model Y.
The Drew Baglino heat pump startup arrives after years of public musing on the subject. During a 2022 Tesla earnings call, Baglino and CEO Elon Musk discussed building a heat pump for residential and commercial settings, with Baglino calling it “very aligned” with Tesla’s mission and noting it would be “way harder in a vehicle” than in a home. He closed with a statement that now reads as foreshadowing: “People should do it anyway.”
With Sadi Thermal Machines, Baglino appears ready to deliver on that promise. The residential heat pump market is ripe for disruption, and few are better positioned than a former Tesla SVP with deep thermal engineering roots to take it on.
