Bottled Lightning

by Seth Fletcher

  stopped cooperating with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency: “Bolivia Suspends U.S.-Backed Antidrug Efforts,” New York Times, November 1, 2008.

  “the ambassador of the United States is conspiring”: Jeremy McDermott, “Bolivia Expels US Ambassador Philip Goldberg,” Telegraph, September 12, 2008.

  Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, the Chinese government: Candace Piette, “Bolivians Learn Chinese to Boost Their Trade Options,” BBC News, December 24, 2009.

  Evo Morales traveled to Paris: Jenny Barchfield, “Bolivia’s Morales Calls on Total to Up Investment,” Associated Press, February 17, 2009.

  “Andean capitalism”: “Bolivia: A New Phase Begins,” Socialism Today, February 2006.

  extracts boron from a salar: Tierra website, www.tierra.bo/es/tierra.php.

  Tierra found itself in the middle of a firestorm: Dominican Network: The Delegation of the Order of Preachers to the United Nations, August 10, 2003, “Item 3: Administration of Justice—Bolivia.”

  Roelants got twelve years: “Belgium ‘Astonished’ at 12-Year Sentence for Belgian Citizen in Bolivia,” BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, July 22, 2003, www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-23904531_ITM.

  Belgian “Rasputin”: Juan Carlos Zuleta, “Retrasos y Posible Conflicto de Intereses Empañan el Proyecto Piloto de Litio,” El Potosí, April 23, 2010, www.elpotosi.net/noticias/2010/0423/noticias.php?nota=23_04_10_opin3.php.

  That morning in La Razón: Ramiro Prudencio Lizón, “Crisis de la Minería en Bolivia,” La Razón, April 28, 2010.

  “Bolivian President Evo Morales’ decision”: Harvey Beltrán, “Analysis: Lithium Development—One Step Forward, Two Steps Back—Bolivia,” Business News Americas, March 31, 2010.

  villagers who live near the San Cristóbal mines: “As Protests Mount Against San Cristóbal Silver Mine, Bolivia Looks to Extract Massive Lithium Reserves, But at What Cost?” Democracy Now, April 20, 2010, www.democracynow.org/2010/4/20/two.

  that Guillermo Roelants be expelled: “Intereses Políticos y Económicos Anidan en el Sudoeste,” El Potosí, April 19, 2010.

  120,000 tons of lithium carbonate equivalent: Roskill Information Services, “The Lithium Market: 2009 Review and Outlook,” paper presented at the Lithium Supply and Markets conference, Las Vegas, January 26–28, 2010.

  Lithium-demand forecasts get hazy: Ibid.

  some nine million tons of lithium: USGS 2010 Lithium Report, http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/lithium/mcs-2010-lithi.pdf.

  “Bolivia has the largest resources”: Quoted on the Comibol website, www.evaporiticosbolivia.org/indexi.php.

  Because of the constant influx of minerals: François Risacher and Bertrand Fritz, “Quaternary Geochemical Evolution of the Salars of Uyuni and Coipasa, Central Altiplano, Bolivia,” Chemical Geology 90 (1991): 211–31.

  the driest place on earth: Priit J. Vesilind, “The Driest Place on Earth,” National Geographic, August 2003.

  bacteria-detecting Mars robots: Michael Coren, “Digging for Life in the Deadest Desert: Driest Spot on Earth May Hold Clues to Mars,” CNN, August 5, 2004, www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/04/atacama.desert/index.html.

  since before the arrival of the Spanish: Kevin J. Vaughn, Moises Linares Grados, Jelmer W. Eerkens, and Matthew J. Edwards, “Hematite Mining in the Ancient Americas: Mina Primavera, A 2,000 Year Old Peruvian Mine,” Journal of the Minerals, Metals and Materials Society 59 (2007): 16–20.

  just about supported the entire country: Chasteen, Born in Blood and Fire, p. 178.

  The War of the Pacific: Ibid., pp. 178–79.

  the beneficiary of blatant nepotism: The accusations are well documented. Sources used in the research for this book include Timothy L. O’Brien and Larry Rohter, “The Pinochet Money Trail,” New York Times, December 12, 2004; Gabriel Agosin O., “Un Intocable en el Banquillo,” La Nación, August 7, 2005 (which contains the Kaizer Soze reference mentioned in the text). Ponce Lerou receives two mentions in Pamela Constable and Arturo Valenzuela’s fascinating history of Chile under the rule of Pinochet, A Nation of Enemies, pp. 74, 216.

  Roelants gave an interview: “Delays and Possible Conflict of Interests Cloud Bolivia’s Lithium Pilot Project,” Juan Carlos Zuleta’s Instablog, April 24, 2010.

  Pieces published in El Potosí and El Diario: Zuleta, “Retrasos y Posible Conflicto de Intereses”; “Oficinas de EMBRE Deben Tener Residencia en Lípez,” El Diario, April 30, 2010.

  I had seen his picture in La Razón: Víctor Quintanilla, “Bolloré Pide un Acuerdo Sobre el Litio ‘Lo Más Pronto Posible,’” La Razón, April 28, 2010.

  11: The Goal

  Panasonic will start selling in 2013: Hideyoshi Kume, “Panasonic’s New Li-Ion Batteries Use Si Anode for 30% Higher Capacity,” Nikkei Electronics Asia, March 1, 2010.

  In 2009, Sadoway received a $7 million grant: “Bold, Transformational Energy Research Projects Win $151 Million in Funding,” Advanced Research Projects Agency, U.S. Department of Energy news release, October 26, 2009, http://arpa-e.energy.gov/Media/News/tabid/83/vw/1/ItemID/20/Default.aspx.

  Lithium-air has a theoretical maximum: S. J. Visco, E. Nimon, and L. C. De Jonghe, “Lithium-Air,” Encyclopedia of Electrochemical Power Sources (New York: Elsevier, 2009).

  SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Boschert, Sherry. Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars That Will Recharge America. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2006.

  Cade, John F. J. “Lithium Salts in the Treatment of Psychotic Excitement.” Medical Journal of Australia 2, no. 36 (1949): 349–52.

  Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 2006.

  Chung, Sung-Yoon, Jason T. Bloking, and Yet-Ming Chiang. “Electronically Conductive Phospho-olivines as Lithium Storage Electrodes.” Nature Materials 1 (2002): 123–28.

  ———. “From Our Readers: On the Electronic Conductivity of Phospho-olivines as Lithium Storage Electrodes.” Nature Materials 2 (2003): 702–703.

  Constable, Pamela, and Arturo Valenzuela. A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet. New York: Norton, 1991.

  Deffeyes, Kenneth S. Hubbert’s Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001.

  Delacourt, Charles, Philippe Poizot, Jean-Marie Tarascon, and Christian Masquelier. “The Existence of Temperature-Driven Solid Solution in LixFePo4 for 0 ≤ x ≤ 1.” Nature Materials 4 (2005): 254–60.

  Doyle, Jack. Taken for a Ride: Detroit’s Big Three and the Politics of Pollution. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2000.

  Ellis, Brian, P. Subramanya Herle, Y.-H. Rho, Linda F. Nazar, R. Dunlap, Laura K. Perry, and D. H. Ryan. “Nanostructured Materials for Lithium-ion Batteries: Surface Conductivity vs. Bulk Ion/Electron Transport.” Faraday Discussions 134 (2007): 119–41.

  Ellis, Brian, Marnix Wagemaker, Fokko M. Mulder, and Linda F. Nazar. “Comment on ‘Aliovalent Substitutions in Olivine Lithium Iron Phosphate and Impact on Structure and Properties.’” Advanced Functional Materials 20 (2010): 186–88.

  El-Mallakh, Rif S., and James W. Jefferson. “Prethymoleptic Use of Lithium.” American Journal of Psychiatry 156, no. 1 (1999): 129.

  El-Mallakh, Rif S., and Rona Jeannie Roberts. “Lithiated Lemon-Lime Sodas.” American Journal of Psychiatry 164, no. 11 (2007): 1662.

  Goodenough, John B. Witness to Grace. Baltimore: PublishAmerica, 2008.

  Halberstam, David. The Reckoning. New York: Morrow, 1986.

  Holstein, William J. Why GM Matters: Inside the Race to Transform an American Icon. New York: Walker, 2009.

  Huggins, Robert Alan. Advanced Batteries: Materials Science Aspects. New York: Springer, 2009.

  Ingrassia, Paul. Crash Course: The American Automobile Industry’s Road from Glory to Disaster. New York: Random House, 2010.

  Jacobs, Chip, and William J. Kelly. Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles. Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2008.

  Jonnes, Jill. Empires of Light: Edison,
Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World. New York: Random House, 2004.

  Josephson, Matthew. Edison: A Biography. New York: Wiley, 1992.

  Kirsch, David A. The Electric Vehicle and the Burden of History. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2000.

  Makimura, Y., L. S. Cahill, Y. Iriyama, G. R. Goward, and L. F. Nazar. “Layered Lithium Vanadium Fluorophosphate, Li5V(PO4)2F2: A 4 V Class Positive Electrode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries.” Chemistry and Materials 20 (2008): 4240–48.

  McPhee, John. Annals of the Former World. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998.

  Meethong, Nonglak, Yu-Hua Kao, Scott A. Speakman, and Yet-Ming Chiang. “Aliovalent Substitutions in Olivine Lithium Iron Phosphate and Impact on Structure and Properties.” Advanced Functional Materials 19 (2009): 1060–70.

  Mizushima, K., P. C. Jones, P. J. Wiseman, and J. B. Goodenough, “LixCoO2 (0
  Moore, Gregory J., Joseph M. Bebchuk, Ian B. Wilds, Guang Chen, and Husseini K. Menji. “Lithium-Induced Increase in Human Brain Grey Matter.” Lancet 356 (2000): 1241–42.

  Nelson, Paul A., Danilo J. Santini, and James Barnes. “Factors Determining the Manufacturing Costs of Lithium-Ion Batteries for PHEVs.” EVS24 International Battery, Hybrid and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Symposium (2009): 1–12.

  Ohgami, Hirochika, Takeshi Terao, Ippei Shiotsuki, and Nobuyoshi Ishii. “Lithium Levels in Drinking Water and Risk of Suicide.” British Journal of Psychiatry 194 (2009): 464–65.

  Padhi, A. K., K. S. Nanjundaswamy, and J. B. Goodenough. “LiFePO4: A Novel Cathode Material for Rechargeable Batteries.” Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts 96 (1996): 73.

  ———. “Phospho-olivines as Positive-Electrode Materials for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries.” Journal of the Electrochemical Society 144 (1997): 1188–94.

  Pancaldi, Giuliano. Volta: Science and Culture in the Age of Enlightenment. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003.

  Panel on Electrically Powered Vehicles, U.S. Department of Commerce. The Automobile and Air Pollution: A Program for Progress. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1967.

  Pooley, Eric. The Climate War: True Believers, Power Brokers, and the Fight to Save the Earth. New York: Hyperion, 2010.

  Powers, William. Whispering in the Giant’s Ear: A Frontline Chronicle from Bolivia’s War on Globalization. New York: Bloomsbury, 2006.

  Ravet, Nathalie, Ali Abouimrane, and Michel Armand. “From Our Readers: On the Electronic Conductivity of Phospho-olivines as Lithium Storage Electrodes.” Nature Materials 2 (2003): 702–703.

  Ravet, Nathalie, Y. Chouinard, J. F. Magnan, S. Besner, M. Gauthier, and M. Armand. “Electroactivity of Natural and Synthetic Triphylite.” Journal of Power Sources 97–98 (2001): 503–507.

  Ravet, Nathalie, J. B. Goodenough, S. Besner, M. Simoneau, P. Hovington, and M. Armand. “Improved Iron Based Cathode Material.” Paper presented at the 196th meeting of the Electrochemical Society, Honolulu, October 17–22, 1999.

  Ravet, Nathalie, J-F. Magnan, J. M. Gauthier, and M. Armand. “Lithium Iron Phosphate: Towards an Universal Electrode Material.” Paper presented at the International Conference on Materials for Advanced Technologies, Singapore, July 1–6, 2001.

  Sampson, Anthony. The Seven Sisters: The Great Oil Companies and the World They Shaped. New York: Viking, 1975.

  Schallenberg, Richard H. Bottled Energy: Electrical Engineering and the Evolution of Chemical Energy Storage. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1982.

  Schiffer, Michael B., Tamara C. Butts, and Kimberly K. Grimm. Taking Charge: The Electric Automobile in America. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994.

  Schlesinger, Henry. The Battery: How Portable Power Sparked a Technological Revolution. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books, 2010.

  Shacket, Sheldon R. The Complete Book of Electric Vehicles. 2nd ed. Northbrook, IL.: Domus Books, 1981.

  Shnayerson, Michael. The Car That Could: The Inside Story of GM’s Revolutionary Electric Vehicle. New York: Random House, 1996.

  Subramanya Herle, P., B. Ellis, N. Coombs, and L. F. Nazar. “Nano-network Electronic Conduction in Iron and Nickel Olivine Phosphates.” Nature Materials 3 (2004): 147–52.

  Thackeray, Michael. “Lithium-ion Batteries: An Unexpected Conductor.” Nature Materials 1 (2002): 81–82.

  Thackeray, Michael, W.I.F. David, P. G. Bruce, and J. B. Goodenough. “Lithium Insertion into Manganese Spinels.” Materials Research Bulletin 18, no. 4 (1983): 461–72.

  van Gool, W., ed. Fast Ion Transport in Solids: Solid State Batteries and Devices. New York: Elsevier, 1973.

  Whittingham, M. S. “Electrical Energy Storage and Intercalation Chemistry.” Science 192, no. 4244 (1976): 1126–27.

  Whittingham, M. S., and R. A. Huggins. “Beta Alumina: Prelude to a Revolution in Solid State Electrochemistry.” In Solid State Chemistry: Proceedings of the 5th Materials Research Symposium, edited by Robert S. Roth and Samuel J. Schneider Jr., 139–54. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1972.

  Xu, Yong-Nian, Sung-Yoon Chung, Jason T. Bloking, Yet-Ming Chiang, and W. Y. Ching. “Electronic Structure and Electrical Conductivity of Undoped LiFePO4.” Electrochemical and Solid-State Letters 7 (2004): A131–34.

  Yergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power. New York: Free Press, 2008.

  Young, Allan H. “Invited Commentary on … Lithium Levels in Drinking Water and Risk of Suicide.” British Journal of Psychiatry 194 (2009): 466.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Somewhere in the reporting of this book I lost count of the scientists, engineers, industrialists, entrepreneurs, analysts, and other knowledgeable guides who took the time to speak to me. Far more people than are named or quoted in these pages had an influence. Instead of attempting and inevitably failing to type up a complete list, I’d like to issue a blanket declaration of gratitude to every person who met with me or got on the phone to explain his or her area of expertise. I hope I did your subjects justice.

  I doubt I would ever have set out to write this book if it hadn’t been for early encouragement from friends. I’m grateful to Gabe Sherman for one evening saying: Have you ever thought about writing a book about this stuff? Thanks to Claire Martin for urging me to go for it, and to Christian Debenedetti for moral support throughout the process. Arianne Cohen was an essential early adviser.

  Larry Weissman, my agent, has been an indispensable ally. He saw clearer promise in my germ of an idea than I did, and after coaching me through the writing of the proposal, he got it on the desk of the person who finally made it happen: Joe Wisnovsky, my wise and unfailingly supportive editor at Hill and Wang. He and the rest of the professionals at Hill and Wang / Farrar, Straus and Giroux have been a pleasure to work with.

  At Popular Science, Mark Jannot, Jake Ward, and Mike Haney were all extraordinarily accommodating as I worked on this book. During my travels I relied on favors from more people than I can count, but in South America the assistance of locals was particularly crucial. In Bolivia, Francisco Quisbert and our guide, Enoch, were tremendously helpful. In Chile, Andres Yaksic went some eight hundred miles out of his way to get me behind the gates of SQM.

  Abe Streep, Chelsea Sexton, Eddie Alterman, and Jeff Dahn each supplied critical feedback on portions of this book. Many thanks to Michele Gardner for her help with legal research. I’m grateful to Chris Canipe for providing the map of the Lithium Triangle, and to Jennifer Stahl for the amazingly sharp and careful fact-checking she performed on certain thorny passages. I remain responsible for any and all errors that made it into print.