Long Hard Road: The Lithium-Ion Battery and the Electric Car

by Charles J. Murray Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

Overview

Long Hard Road provides an inside look at the birth of the lithium-ion battery, from its origins in academic labs around the world to its transition to its new role as the future of automotive power. It chronicles the piece-by-piece development of the battery, from its early years when it was met by indifference from industry to its later emergence in Japan where it served in camcorders, laptops, and cell phones. The book is the first to provide a glimpse inside the Japanese corporate culture that turned the lithium-ion chemistry into a commercial product.



Long Hard Road then takes listeners inside the auto industry to show how lithium-ion solved the problems of earlier battery chemistries and transformed the electric car into a viable competitor. Starting with the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison electric car of 1914, it chronicles a long list of automotive failures, then shows how a small California car converter called AC Propulsion laid the foundation for a revolution by packing its car with thousands of tiny lithium-ion cells.



Long Hard Road is unique in its telling of the lithium-ion tale, revealing that the battery chemistry was not the product of a single inventor, but rather was the culmination of dozens of scientific breakthroughs from many inventors whose work was united to create a product that changed the world.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"We are at the threshold of a massive shift to electric vehicles. Charles Murray's Long Hard Road: The Lithium-Ion Battery and the Electric Car spells out the history of over one hundred years in the development of an appropriate battery. Historically, battery cost has been the largest impediment to commercialization of electric vehicles, but there are other important issues like material availability and safety. Key people and companies are discussed in the evolution of today's superior battery technology. As we look to the future, history is an important foundation for success." —David E. Cole, Chair Emeritus, Center for Automotive Research, and Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan Engineering

". . . a panoramic view of the key events that spanned four decades, covering all the well-known figures, with little-known behind-the-scenes stories . . . " —Kang Xu, Electrochemical Society Fellow and battery scientist

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176764567
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	12/27/2022
Edition description:	Unabridged

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