on the blog Engadget: Cyrus Farivar, “Fire-Retardant Sleeves for Your Laptop,” Engadget.com, September 16, 2006.
“It’s like being in a conventional car at seventy miles an hour”: Video for Greenfuelsforecast.com, www.youtube.com/watch?v=A17JrjXYcxs.
Tesla had had a rough couple of years: Michael V. Copeland, “Tesla’s Wild Ride,” Fortune, July 2008.
a “death watch” going: EV World, August 18, 2008.
“As a company, we do not have an official death watch”: Jennifer Kho, “Toyota’s Reinert Talks ‘Death Watch’ on Three Electric Cars,” Greentechmedia.com, August 28, 2008.
Three weeks earlier: Holman Jenkins, Jr., “What Is GM Thinking?” Wall Street Journal, July 2, 2008.
6: The Lithium Wars
Goodenough and Padhi decided to present their results: Padhi, Nanjundaswamy, and Goodenough. “LiFePO4.”
“The phosphate was perfect”: Armand continued, “It was poised at 3.5 volts. The electrolyte could be stable. The phosphate groups make the structure very sturdy, so it’s not going to lose oxygen like the cobalt oxides and so on. And iron and phosphate are very economical materials. It has everything. The only disadvantage is that it needs to be in very small particles. Small particles are hard to pack densely into a cathode, but this is probably the price to pay for safety.”
In October 2002, Chiang’s group: Chung, Bloking, and Chiang, “Electronically Conductive Phospho-olivines as Lithium Storage Electrodes.”
Goodenough’s old collaborator Michael Thackeray: Thackeray, “Lithium-ion Batteries: An Unexpected Conductor.”
Authored by Armand and two colleagues: Ravet, Abouimrane, and Armand, “From Our Readers: On the Electronic Conductivity of Phospho-olivines as Lithium Storage Electrodes.”
Armand’s response was fundamentally flawed: Chiang’s reply in Nature Materials continued, “Finally, although Ravet et al. speculate that our results are due to a coincidence of artefacts”—the carbon coating and the presence of Fe2P—“they curiously do not observe these same artefacts in experiments that purport to reproduce ours. Despite this inconsistency in the argument, they contend that their results disprove ours. It is more likely that there are simple differences in experimental procedures.”
Nazar’s paper was published in 2004: Herle et al., “Nano-network Electronic Conduction in Iron and Nickel Olivine Phosphates.”
“We also published a paper around that same time”: Xu et al., “Electronic Structure and Electrical Conductivity of Undoped LiFePO4.”
the press was eager to listen: “New Type of Battery Offers Voltage Aplenty—at a Premium,” Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2005; Jennifer Kho, “Battery Pumps Up Power Tools,” Red Herring, November 1, 2005; Efrain Viscarolasaga, “A123 Charged and Ready to Hit Target Markets,” Mass High Tech, November 14, 2005.
“We think this is equivalent”: Viscarolasaga, “A123 Charged and Ready.”
Hydro-Québec sent A123 a warning: Defendant’s Sur-Reply in Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to Reopen Case, A123 Systems, Inc., v. Hydro-Québec, No. 1:06-CV-10612-JLT, August 28, 2009, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.
On April 7, 2006, the company filed an action: Complaint and Jury Demand, A123 Systems, Inc., v. Hydro-Québec, No. 06CV10612, April 7, 2006, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.
On September 8, they requested a reexamination: Defendant’s Opposition to Plaintiff’s Motion to Reopen Case. A123 Systems, Inc., v. Hydro-Québec, No. 1:06-CV-10612-JLT, July 24, 2009, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.
The University of Texas stepped in: Robert Elder, “Legal Fight over UT Patents Stretches On,” Austin American-Statesman, October 15, 2006.
“a catch-penny, a sensation”: The Electrician, February 17, 1883.
did some belligerent gloating: Jim Henderson, “Professor Is Mired in Patent Lawsuit; Visitor Accused of Lifting Research,” Houston Chronicle, June 5, 2004.
a note that Okada had faxed: Ibid.
“He is a liar”: Ibid.
In 2006, Nazar published another paper: Ellis et al., “Nanostructured Materials for Lithium-ion Batteries.”
Then in 2008: Makimura et al., “Layered Lithium Vanadium Fluorophosphate.”
Chiang hit back: Meethong et al., “Aliovalent Substitutions in Olivine Lithium Iron Phosphate and Impact on Structure and Properties.”
Nazar and her colleagues: Ellis et al., “Comment on ‘Aliovalent Substitutions in Olivine Lithium Iron Phosphate and Impact on Structure and Properties.’”
By January 2007, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office: A123 Systems, June 30, 2010, Form 10-G (filed August 11, 2010), http://ir.a123systems.com/financials.cfm.
free to move forward: In June, A123 filed a motion to reopen their case, but in September the judge denied it. A123 is appealing the decision; they want the court to declare that their products do not infringe on the University of Texas’s amended and narrower patents. And in May 2010, Hydro-Québec and the University of Texas filed their second amended complaint to reflect the changes in the patents. (China BAK Battery has been dropped from the suit, and A123 has indemnified Black & Decker.) At the time of this writing, a pretrial hearing had been scheduled; A123 wrote in an SEC filing that, if either lawsuit were to go forward, they would expect it to take two or more years to go to trial. The SEC filing also said this: “Regardless of the ultimate outcome of the litigation, it could result in significant legal expenses and diversion of time by our technical and managerial personnel. The results of these proceedings are uncertain, and there can be no assurance that they will not have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, and financial condition.”
In October 2008, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone settled: “NTT Settles Suit with U.S. University, Canadian Firm,” Jiji Press Ticker Service, October 6, 2008.
Hydro-Québec transferred to its venture capital arm: William Marsden, “Hydro-Québec’s Battery Goes Dead,” Gazette (Montreal), September 3, 2005.
Then in 2001, Hydro-Québec signed over 50 percent: Ibid.
newly formed Montreal-based company: Alison MacGregor, “New Battery Firm Charges Ahead,” Gazette (Montreal), October 16, 2001.
In September 2002, Avestor: Marsden, “Hydro-Québec’s Battery Goes Dead.”
AT&T installed seventeen thousand: Tyler Hamilton, “The Ugly Side of Next-Gen Energy Storage,” Clean Break, January 16, 2008.
AT&T cable boxes equipped with Avestor batteries: Rick Barrett, “AT&T Pulling Batteries; Device Blamed in U-verse Equipment Cabinet Blast in Tosa,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 17, 2008.
“Normally, we would work with a vendor”: Linda Haugsted, “AT&T Will Replace Batteries After Fires,” Multichannel News, January 21, 2008.
7: The Brink
Toyota became the biggest automaker: “Toyota Surpasses GM in Sales Amid Global Automotive Slump,” Toronto Star, January 22, 2009.
the company lost $30.9 billion: Greg Keenan, “Losses Force GM to Question Its Future,” Globe and Mail (Canada), February 27, 2009.
this time in a Volt prototype: Andrew Neather and Boris Johnson, “In Search of Electric Cars,” Evening Standard (London), December 5, 2008.
GM’s one hundredth anniversary party: Jim Motavalli, “G.M. Tones Down the Volt,” New York Times, September 21, 2008.
“The most talked-about announcement”: Kendra Marr, “GM Puts a Charge in Auto Show,” Washington Post, January 13, 2009.
“Our timing had been set”: Steven Rattner, “The Auto Bailout: How We Did It,” Fortune, October 2009. The article was later expanded into the book Overhaul: An Insider’s Account of the Obama Administration’s Emergency Rescue of the Auto Industry (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010).
And on March 19, 2009: “Remarks at Southern California Edison’s Electric Vehicle Technical Center in Pomona, California,” www.gpoaccess.gov/presdocs/2009/DCPD200900170.pdf.
Bob Lutz sent reassurances: March 31, 2009, http://gm-volt.com/2009/03
/31/bob-lutz-volt-will-survive-and-prosper/.
strict new nationwide fuel-economy standards: John M. Broder, “Obama to Toughen Rules on Emissions and Mileage,” New York Times, May 18, 2009.
Nissan and its ally Renault: Hans Greimel, “Renault, Nissan to Go Electric, Seek Leadership in Green Cars,” Automotive News Europe, February 4, 2008.
“Thousands of persons have large pecuniary interests”: Quoted in Jonnes, Empires of Light, p. 202.
Although Toyota had announced: Alan Ohnsman and Jeff Plungis, “Toyota Questions Cost, Batteries of Plug-In Hybrids,” Bloomberg, May 18, 2009.
a car for “idiots”: Lawrence Ulrich, “Audi President Has Verbal Jolt for Volt,” MSN Autos, September 2, 2009, http://editorial.autos.msn.com/blogs/autosblogpost.aspx?post=1247701.
ten things Letterman should know: Mark Phelan, “Hey, Letterman: Here Are 10 Things About the Volt,” Detroit Free Press, May 20, 2009.
Fritz Henderson was out: Bill Vlasic, “In the Changeover at G.M., a New Hands-On Attitude,” New York Times, December 14, 2009.
They had allies in Warren Buffett: Keith Bradsher, “Buffett Buys Stake in Chinese Battery Manufacturer,” New York Times, September 29, 2008.
world’s largest supplier of electric cars by 2012: Keith Bradsher, “China Vies to Be World’s Leader in Electric Car,” New York Times, April 1, 2009.
8: The Stimulus
William Clay Ford, Jr.: Bill Vlasic, “Ford Scion Looks Beyond Bailout to Green Agenda,” New York Times, November 24, 2008.
Rick Wagoner, still at the helm of GM: Sholnn Freeman, “GM Says Batteries for Volt Might Not Be U.S. Produced,” Washington Post, September 18, 2008.
Charles Gassenheimer spoke: David E. Zoia, “All Charged Up,” Ward’s Auto World, November 1, 2008.
“This is the single largest investment”: Official transcript of Steven Chu’s remarks, www.energy.gov/7751.htm.
“hottest IPO of 2009”: “Cramer’s IPO Play—A123 Systems,” http://maddmoney.net/cramers-ipo-play-a123-systems/.
the day A123 went public: Erin Ailworth, “IPO Fuels Prospects of Battery Makers,” Boston Globe, September 25, 2009.
“We ended up having to teach these guys”: Don Lee, “Battery Recharges Debate About U.S. Manufacturing,” Chicago Tribune, May 16, 2010.
In May 2008, Sanyo: “Volkswagen, Sanyo to Develop Lithium-Ion Batteries,” Reuters, May 28, 2008, www.reuters.com/article/idUST26662320080528.
That July, Panasonic announced: “Panasonic to Build Lithium-ion Battery Plant in Osaka,” JCN Newswire, www.japancorp.net/article.asp?Art_ID=19219.
Mitsubishi, through a joint venture: “Lithium Energy Japan Secures Plant Site and Buildings for World’s First Mass Production of Large Lithium-ion Batteries for EVS,” Lithium Energy Japan press release, www.gsyuasa-lp.com/News/LEJ_20080806e.pdf.
Nissan’s joint venture with NEC: “Nissan and NEC Joint Venture—AESC—Starts Operations,” Nissan press release, www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2008/_STORY/080519-01-e.html.
Charles Gassenheimer cited Nissan’s recent purchase: “Ener1, Inc. at Jefferies & Co. Global Clean Technology Conference,” FD (Fair Disclosure) Wire, October 22, 2008.
LG Chem planning to devote a cell factory: John Voelcker, “Global Market Review of Hybrids and Electric-Drive Vehicles—Forecasts to 2015,” Just-Auto, April 2009.
Samsung was also launching an automotive joint venture: David E. Zoia, “All Charged Up,” Ward’s Auto World, November 1, 2008.
BYD’s thirty thousand workers: Amy Hsuan, “Governor Sees Hybrid as Green Fit for Oregon,” Oregonian, November 23, 2008.
“This appears to be the kind of deal”: Taro Fuse and Kentaro Hamada, “Panasonic in Tentative Deal to Buy Sanyo,” New York Times, November 2, 2008.
9: The Prospectors
In December 2006: William Tahil, “The Trouble with Lithium: Implications of Future PHEV Production for Lithium Demand,” http://tyler.blogware.com/lithium_shortage.pdf.
Earlier that year: “Ground Zero: The Nuclear Demolition of the World Trade Centre,” www.nucleardemolition.com/GZero_Sample.pdf. Tahil was quoted in mainstream publications: Brendan I. Koerner, “The Saudi Arabia of Lithium,” Forbes, November 2008; Rebecca Coons, “Lithium: Charging Up the Hybrids,” Chemical Week, July 22, 2008.
Evans wrote his own estimate: R. Keith Evans, “An Abundance of Lithium,” March 2008, www.che.ncsu.edu/ILEET/phevs/lithium-availability/An_Abundance_of_Lithium.pdf.
Tahil hit back: William Tahil, “The Trouble with Lithium 2: Under the Microscope,” www.meridian-int-res.com/Projects/Lithium_Microscope.pdf.
He posted a response paper online: R. Keith Evans, “An Abundance of Lithium Part Two,” July 2008, www.evworld.com/library/KEvans_LithiumAbunance_pt2.pdf.
a company called Nordic Mining: All remaining information in this paragraph comes from Keith Evans’s presentation the first day of the Lithium Supply and Markets conference, 2010.
some 8.9 million tons: R. Keith Evans, “Lithium Reserves and Resources,” paper presented at Lithium Supply and Markets 2010, Las Vegas, January 2010.
After the volcano’s collapse: See John McPhee’s Annals of the Former World for an accessible explanation of basin-and-range faulting in this corner of Nevada.
10: The Lithium Triangle
starting in 2009, the Salar de Uyuni: Simon Romero, “In Bolivia, Untapped Bounty Meets Nationalism,” New York Times, February 3, 2009; Eitan Haddock, “En Bolivie, la Ruée Vers L’or Gris,” Le Monde Magazine, December 5, 2009; Jeffrey Kofman, “Bolivia’s Uyuni Salt Flats Hold Promise of Greener Future,” ABC News, August 5, 2009, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/JustOneThing/story?id=8257028&page=1; Peter Day, “Battery Power,” BBC, January 9, 2009, www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/business/2009/09/090901_globalbusiness_010909.shtml.
Bolivia’s gross domestic product: The CIA World Factbook: Bolivia. www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bl.html.
ExxonMobil’s profit: Jad Mouawad, “Exxon Grew as Oil Industry Contracted,” New York Times, February 1, 2010.
Since gaining independence: See Chasteen, Born in Blood and Fire, for a history of Bolivia.
The most notorious example: Lawrence Wright, “Lithium Dreams,” New Yorker, March 22, 2010.
self-described yuppie: William Finnegan, “Leasing the Rain,” New Yorker, April 8, 2002.
his “campaign manager”: Jeremy D. Rosner and Mark Feierstein, “Hindering Reform in Latin America,” Washington Post, August 6, 2002.
the military killed six Aymara villagers: Grace Livingstone, “International Roundup: Americas: Unions in Bolivia Go on Strike,” Guardian, September 29, 2003.
The military responded violently in El Alto: Anthony Faiola, “Ex-President of Bolivia Faces Suit in U.S.,” Washington Post, September 26, 2007.
Carlos Mesa, broke with the government: Larry Rohter, “Bolivian President Remains Defiant as Protests Intensify,” New York Times, October 14, 2003.
Goni resigned and fled the country: Larry Rohter, “Bolivian Leader Resigns and His Vice President Steps In,” New York Times, October 18, 2003.
in 2005 the government passed a law: Juan Forero, “Foreign Gas Companies in Bolivia Face Sharply Higher Taxes,” New York Times, May 18, 2005.
five hundred years of resistance: Jeremy McDermott, “Bolivian Leader Sworn in as the Left Advances on US Doorstep,” Daily Telegraph (London), January 23, 2006.
“Death to the Yankees”: See the documentary Cocalero (2007), directed by Alejandro Landes.
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