Russell Pullan

Russell Pullan, CEO of eLeapPower, has big plans for electric vehicles (EV).  

Faster charging. Cheaper manufacturing. And completely green — charging from renewable energy.  

At his Canadian startup technology company eLeapPower, Pullan and his team have developed a new type of inverter for EVs that eliminates the onboard charger to make a more efficient, environmentally friendly and less expensive EV.  

It’s a big breakthrough.  

In fact, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction potential of the new technology won the multimillion-dollar Breakthrough Energy Ventures Award from the Bill Gates’ initiative in 2020. eLeapPower’s solutions exceeded the criteria for the award.  

The company’s mission to provide solutions that will help make electric vehicles more commercially viable starts with the inverter, which Russell says “completely reimagines” an EV’s powertrain and will help accelerate the world to a low-carbon economy. The company has a multiyear, multimillion-dollar contract with a leading commercial vehicle manufacturer to deliver the product for its line of fully electric vehicles. eLeapPower also is working on pilot projects in partnership with automotive part suppliers and fleet operators to demonstrate the advantages of its technology solutions.    

By the year 2040, eLeapPower projects to have its EV powertrain technology with leading car manufacturers around the world, with the greenhouse gas savings translating to millions of gasoline vehicles off the road every year.  

This isn’t Russell’s first dance in the low-carbon sector. He has 25 years of international experience, growing technology companies as a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and board director. He helped build and run companies, projects and venture capital funds for Carbon Trust, Nomura, Saudi Aramco and UK Green Investment Bank – Sustainable Development Capital.   

He is Chair emeritus for the YPO Sustainable Business and Impact Investing Network and obtained his MBA from INSEAD.