The 10 people transforming transportation from companies like Archer Aviation and Ford Pro

As the "Uber of the skies" starts pilot production of its vertical-takeoff-and-landing copter pods, Allison — who came to the company when it acquired Uber Elevate in late 2020 — is concerning himself with "all of the things that wrap around the airplane that are going to allow us to bring it to market," he said.

That means connecting a flight in a Joby aircraft with other transportation services like commercial air travel. It also means navigating Federal Aviation Administration certification and other red tape to get its copter pods operational, and even convincing the people not using the aircraft to be OK with them flying above their heads.

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As the head of Ford Pro, the automaker's commercial-customer business, Ted Cannis is focused not on pickup trucks like the much-touted F-150 Lighting, but on work trucks, and vans. And that means he's leading a vital part of Ford's $50 billion plan to make EVs account for half its production by 2030.

"We have 40% of the full-size-truck and van business here in America," Cannis said. "By the end of the decade, we will be 50% electric around the world."

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In 2021, Archer Aviation raised nearly $900 million as it went public through an SPAC deal. Over the past year, Goldstein has been putting that money to work.

Goldstein said that in addition to expanding its team, Archer is taking on the "very expensive" task of certifying a new kind of aircraft. That's a big part of Goldstein's drive to commercialize electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.

"We're the first ones to push the industry towards thinking about a business model rather than just a cool piece of tech," he told Insider. To that end, Archer became the first eVTOL company to partner with a major commercial airline, United.

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Mikolajczak, formerly of Tesla, Panasonic, and QuantumScape, joined Lyten in July to help it develop a lithium-ion battery that taps into the benefits of sulfur. Lyten is relatively nascent and has a lot of battery competitors. But its team and technological approach could provide an answer to the biggest challenges automakers have with their batteries.

Lyten wants to control the sulfur with 3D graphene and in the process produce cells with better range, recharge time, and safety.

"I think most people don't realize how many people and how much effort it takes to deliver that," Mikolajczak said of the batteries. "They underestimate the scale, the factories that are needed."

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Nehrenheim, chief environmental officer at the Swedish battery powerhouse Northvolt, leads a team of more than 100 people scrutinizing the entire battery-manufacturing process, including mining materials and handling decommissioned batteries.

Her team has looked at sustainability from many angles: where to put a factory, how much water to discharge, how to calculate and validate a carbon footprint. That's led to a zero-carbon footprint, Nehrenheim said.

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Rachey is playing a big role in one major industry while helping create another one. As the director of Amazon's global fleet of vehicles, he's responsible for transitioning the giant's fleet of last-mile delivery vehicles to electric power.

Rachey's also in charge of puzzling out how to keep a global fleet of electric vehicles charged up. In November 2021, Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund invested in Resilient Power, a startup that builds compact fast-charging depots for electric vehicles.

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As the world's largest aviation company, Boeing can tackle sustainability in air travel head-on. Remes, Boeing's vice president of environmental sustainability, is running point on those efforts, from decarbonizing waste streams to designing and producing more efficient planes.

In 2020, Boeing said it reached net-zero emissions from manufacturing and worksites partly through the purchase of renewable-energy and carbon offsets. Last year it pledged to deliver commercial airliners capable of flying on 100% sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF, by the end of the decade.

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A few years into his time working on lithium extraction for the chemical producer Albemarle, Switzer witnessed a transformation. Demand for the element — used in ceramic cooktops and toilet bowls — surged as carmakers announced plans to build millions of electric vehicles.

That's because lithium is a key ingredient in today's electric-vehicle batteries, and mining companies aren't pulling enough of it from the ground to power the plans put forward by the likes of General Motors, Volkswagen, Ford, and Tesla. And lithium's not the only ingredient in short supply.

A chemical engineer by training, Switzer is now helping Redwood Materials meet that demand by recycling old batteries.

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Terry wants to help dismantle one of the biggest obstacles to mass electric-vehicle adoption: the lack of widespread and reliable charging infrastructure. So Terry founded ChargerHelp in 2020. Charging-site owners can call on the Los Angeles-based startup's specialists to fix busted equipment.

"I come from a community where people don't have these opportunities. I come from a space where folks don't get to build," Terry said. "I get to dream stuff, and I have a team that can execute it. How magical is that?"

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BrightDrop, General Motors' light-commercial-vehicle subsidiary focused on electrifying first- and last-mile delivery, has made a splash since launching in January 2021.

An alum of the Chinese automaker Nio and the self-driving-car startup Zoox, Youssef oversees the design, development, and management of BrightDrop's products and services. That includes BrightDrop's Zevo delivery van, the Trace cart for delivery and courier operations, and fleet software.

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