Contents
Foreword by Donald R. Sadoway xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter 1 The Electric Battery and a Low-Carbon Future 1
Introduction 1
What Is an Electric Battery? 5
The Electric Battery as Core Climate Solution 5
How the Battery Begets Cleaner Cars 6
How the Battery Helps Integrate Intermittent
Renewables 8
The Electric Battery: A Very Brief History 10
Why Is It Called a Battery? 11
Alessandro Volta and the Voltaic Pile 12
Planté and the First Rechargeable Battery 14
Leclanché and the First Dry Cell 14
Invention of the Alkaline Battery: Jungner
versus Edison 16
Alkaline’s True Arrival: Lewis Urry’s Eveready 16
The Leading Edge of Lithium 17
What’s Next? 18
Chapter 2 The Technical Challenge: More Powerful
and Longer-Lasting Batteries 19
Introduction 19
Primer: Electricity and Storage 20
What Is Energy? 21
What Is Electricity? 22
