The Powerhouse cover art

The Powerhouse

Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World

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The Powerhouse

By: Steve LeVine
Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
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About this listen

A Soul of the New Machine for our time, a gripping account of invention, commerce, and duplicity in the age of technology

A worldwide race is on to perfect the next engine of economic growth, the advanced lithium-ion battery. It will power the electric car, relieve global warming, and catapult the winner into a new era of economic and political mastery. Can the United States win?

Steve LeVine was granted unprecedented access to a secret federal laboratory outside Chicago, where a group of geniuses is trying to solve this next monumental task of physics. But these scientists - almost all foreign born - are not alone. With so much at stake, researchers in Japan, South Korea, and China are in the same pursuit. The drama intensifies when a Silicon Valley start-up licenses the federal laboratory's signature invention with the aim of a blockbuster sale to the world's biggest carmakers.

The Powerhouse is a real-time, two-year thrilling account of big invention, big commercialization, and big deception. It exposes the layers of competition and ambition, aspiration and disappointment behind this great turning point in the history of technology.

©2015 Steve LeVine (P)2015 Penguin Audio Engineering History History & Culture Innovations Technology China Imperial Japan

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Critic reviews

"Mr. LeVine provides a fascinating insight into the challenges of scientific advancement, especially the difficulty of translating victories in the lab to the demands of the mass market.... Mr. LeVine has written something like a thriller.... An important story with world-wide implications." (Wall Street Journal)

"A propulsive techno-saga." (Nature)

"Captivating.... A rollicking good tale." (Joe Nocera, New York Times)

All stars
Most relevant  
quite hard to follow with so many characters - at some point i no longer knew which battery guy is working for which company, and i did listen several chapters in each sitting. it was interesting, but maybe too detailed about labaratories scientists to my liking.

story about different research companies

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