The Powerhouse
Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World
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3.2 • 5 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
A Soul of a New Machine for our time, a gripping account of invention, commerce, and duplicity in the age of technology
A worldwide race is on to perfect the next engine of economic growth, the advanced lithium-ion battery. It will power the electric car, relieve global warming, and catapult the winner into a new era of economic and political mastery. Can the United States win?
Steve LeVine was granted unprecedented access to a secret federal laboratory outside Chicago, where a group of geniuses is trying to solve this next monumental task of physics. But these scientists— almost all foreign born—are not alone. With so much at stake, researchers in Japan, South Korea, and China are in the same pursuit. The drama intensifies when a Silicon Valley start-up licenses the federal laboratory’s signature invention with the aim of a blockbuster sale to the world’s biggest carmakers.
The Powerhouse is a real-time, two-year thrilling account of big invention, big commercialization, and big deception. It exposes the layers of competition and ambition, aspiration and disappointment behind this great turning point in the history of technology.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist LeVine (The Oil and the Glory) offers an inside look at the race among industrialized nations to develop a world-changing battery technology. The main players Japan, China, South Korea, and the lagging United States all aim to create a powerful, affordable battery to propel electric automobiles and challenge "the provenance of the internal combustion engine." The book lays out a history of batteries, looking primarily at the period after 1977, when Exxon released the first rechargeable lithium battery. LeVine follows a number of scientists, entrepreneurs, and managers whose contributions slowly advance the technology, but it's only when Chicago's Argonne National Laboratory and a hopeful, venture capital funded startup called Envia enter the picture that the race toward innovation gains momentum. The story's intensity is bolstered by the high stakes: potential increases in economic security based on a lithium-ion battery industry in the U.S.; energy security from less reliance on foreign oil; and environmental security in the face of climate change. But LeVine wisely stays focused on the competition as it unfolds, luring readers into the drama with clear explanations of the American players involved in both the public and private sectors.
Customer Reviews
Great Read!
Highly relevant summary of state of battery technology and business. Great read!