Drew Baglino, former Tesla CEO and Heron Power CEO, founded a heat pump startup

Former Tesla CEO Drew Baglino quietly founded a heat pump startup, TechCrunch has learned.

This is the second company Baglino has founded in the past two years since leaving Tesla. Sources confirmed the existence of the startup, called Sadi Thermal Machines, and TechCrunch reviewed the company’s filings in Delaware and California.

Sadi was founded in June 2025 and shares its headquarters in Scotts Valley, California Heron’s powera startup also founded by Baglino Solid state converters for saleaccording to company filings.

The company’s name is an apparent reference to Nicolas Léonard-Sadi Carnot, a pioneering French physicist whose work formed the basis of modern thermodynamics, including the internal combustion engine and the heat pump. Little is known about Sadi Thermal Machines, however, it appears to employ several Tesla graduates, according to a LinkedIn review and a source familiar with the startup.

TechCrunch was unable to reach Baglino or the public relations firm representing Heron Power. This article will be updated if they respond.

Before founding Heron Power and Sadi Thermal Machines, Baglino spent nearly two decades at Tesla, where he worked on everything from the original Roadster to the Powerwall and Powerpack energy storage systems. When Baglino Tesla left In April 2024, he was promoted to senior vice president, where he oversaw the development of the company’s core energy technologies, including electric motors, batteries and power electronics.

Along the way, Baglino worked on Tesla heat pumps. He is cited as an inventor in A Patent For a thermal management system that operates two cooling loops, one to cool the battery and the other to cool the powertrain components.

To manage the two circuits, Baglino and his colleagues developed three-way and four-way valves that give an electric car’s thermal management system more sophisticated control over the temperature of various components. Such a system would allow Tesla to harvest heat from a traction motor, for example, and use it to preheat the battery to ensure optimal performance when fast charging in cold weather.

The patent outlines some of the design principles that form the basis of Tesla’s “eight-valve” system that debuted in the Model Y. The heat pump in that car manages the temperature of the cabin, batteries and motors, all in a package that revolves around Bag size.

When it debuted, Tesla’s eight-valve system was more advanced than its competitors’, and for at least a brief period, the company considered developing a heat pump for residential and commercial spaces. Tesla executives, including Baglino and CEO Elon Musk, considered such a system during the Earnings call in 2022. They discussed the idea of ​​creating a heat pump that could handle HVAC and water heating systems.

“From a mission perspective, it’s very compatible,” Baglino said. “We’ve learned a lot about how to make capable, reliable heat pumps that work in all environmental conditions, and we’re excited about the idea of ​​working to solve this problem one day. And let me put it this way, it’s definitely in line with our mission to accelerate the transition to sustainable energy.”

He added that making a heat pump for the home would be easier. “It’s way harder in a car,” he said. “It is very constrained by mass, volume and energy.”

But then Musk added one of his famous qualifiers. He added: “This is something we will do, but we are not committed to a time frame at this stage.” Tesla has not yet launched a residential HVAC or water heating system.

“People have to do it anyway,” Baglino said on the call. And with Sadi Thermal Machines, he seems ready to make that statement a reality.