The Powerhouse

November 10, 2014
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. Agent: Jim Levine, Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency.

December 15, 2014
The history and progression of the lithium-ion battery and its critical role in modern technology. LeVine (Putin's Labyrinth: Spies, Murder, and the Dark Heart of the New Russia, 2008, etc.) examines the rechargeable battery market and the race among scientific developers to find the next consumer-changing breakthrough. His research centers primarily on development engineer Jeff Chamberlain and his work with the Argonne National Laboratory, an Illinois-based federal research center countering problematic industrial challenges with clean energy solutions. As lead engineer of Argonne's Battery Department, the thrust of Chamberlain's work has been the manufacturing of an electric car battery that addresses consumer concerns: safety and "performance in distance and acceleration." With the aid of well-researched historical data and moderately accessible scientific detail, LeVine structures his narrative around those responsible for bringing the premise and the science behind the electric car "from the lab to the factory," expanding the niche market of the product from a "social purchase" for "buyers wishing association with the green movement" to a product ushering in an electric age which "would puncture the demand for oil." The author depicts Chamberlain, in addition to other battery scientists and solid-state physicists and Argonne technologists, as concurrently building and capitalizing from one another's technology, and LeVine examines the intricate dynamics of geopolitics, internal conflict and fierce industry competitiveness with equal acuity. The narrative culminates with the dramatics behind Argonne's bid to win the U.S. Department of Energy's battery Hub competition. A suitable companion to the documentary Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006), LeVine has produced a readable resource on the forward-thinking advances and challenges facing newer advancements in modern automobile technology. A book with built-in appeal to both scientific minds and those thinking about sustainable transportation options.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2015

How hard is it to make a battery for an electric car that will run hundreds of miles? LeVine (energy security, Georgetown Univ.; Washington correspondent, Quartz magazine; The Oil and the Glory) shows that this international puzzle is very difficult indeed. The author starts with the history of the battery and the advancements in technology that each discovery made possible. He traces the history of Argonne National Laboratory outside of Chicago and shows the lab's essential role in current research. While much of our lives are run by today's batteries, whoever makes the next giant leap will reap eminent economic benefits--Japan, China, and South Korea join the United States in the search using chemistry and physics for that breakthrough. Big rewards can lead to big deceptions, however, as research gives way to the demands of commercialization and governments get involved. VERDICT While acronym-rich, LeVine's work looks closely at the humanity of the scientists from all countries working on this problem. Only time will tell who wins the race for the next illustrious battery. Do you find the words "voltage fade" intriguing? Then this is the book for you.--Bonnie A. Tollefson, Rogue Valley Manor Lib., Medford, OR

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2014
The lofty goal of reducing our reliance on foreign oil and fossil fuel to power our automobiles relies heavily on the promise of one product: the rechargeable battery. Yet battery technology has not advanced past the threshold of economic advantage over oil, and the battery-powered car remains a niche market. The race to produce the battery that will fuel the next energy boom centers on a research facility known more for nuclear reactors than batteries. Located outside Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory holds the keys to the next generation of lithium ion batteries that could ease global warming and fuel the next boom in clean energy. LeVine chronicles the race to perfect the invention of the 300 mile battery, with its breakthroughs and stumbling blocks, IPOs and foreign partnerships, patents and spies. The stakes are high as the players compete in a winner-take-all game to land the big auto contracts. LeVine is the Washington correspondent for Quartz, a fellow at the New America Foundation, and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)