The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World (30 page)

Envia released the following statement after Kapadia’s lawsuit was dropped:

Envia Systems is pleased that the lawsuit brought by Atul Kapadia and two other former employees has been dismissed. Envia is considering its options to address the fact that the baseless lawsuit was filed at all. The company’s own investigations and other data confirmed that the lawsuit was meritless, and the plaintiffs and their lawyers have now essentially agreed—by themselves dropping the suit less than two months after it was filed. The plaintiffs are still required to comply with a Preliminary Injunction issued against them in December at Envia’s request, which orders them to return company confidential property and data. Envia is moving forward and remains focused on developing breakthrough lithium-ion battery cathode and anode materials for both the automotive and consumer electronics markets.

2. Why Argonne Let Wan In

1
. “Batteries for Electric Cars: Challenges, Opportunities and the Outlook to 2020,” Boston Consulting Group, 8.

2
. Interview with Peter Harrup, chairman, IDTechEx, July 8, 2010.

3
. Ibid.

4
. 13 to 15 percent, IHS Global Insight, quoted on Edmunds.com, January 22, 2010; 50 percent, author interview with Ralph Brodd, August 3, 2011. Translating the 2020 percentages into hard figures, we were talking sales of about 7.5 million cars a year. At an average of $30,000 a vehicle, that was a $225-billion-a-year industry, equivalent to the 2012 gross revenue of Toyota, the world’s largest carmaker. If accurate, the estimate for 2030 would be more than three times that number.

5
. French ecology minister Jean-Louis Boorloo, quoted by Agence France-Press, October 2, 2009.

3. A Good Place to Do Science

1
. Arthur Compton,
Atomic Quest
(Oxford, 1956), 144.

2
. Jack M. Holl,
Argonne National Laboratory, 1946–96
(University of Illinois Press, 1997), 56.

3
. Ibid., 430.

4. “Discouraged Weariness in the Eyes”

1
. Lab description and quotes from Robert K. Steunenberg and Leslie Burris,
From Test Tube to Pilot Plant: A 50-Year History of the Chemical Technology Division at Argonne National Laboratory
(Argonne National Laboratory, 2000), 89–160.

2
. Ibid.

3
. Ibid.

4
. Detail and quotes from ibid.

5
. C. P. Gilmore, “Electric Autos . . . They’re on the Way!,”
Popular Science
, December 1966, 76.

6
. Stanley Whittingham interview with SUNY Binghamton, October 30, 2000, http://authors.library.caltech.edu/5456/1/hrst.mit.edu/hrs/materials//files/13/73/82/f137382/public/Whittingham_interview.htm.

5. Professor Goodenough

1
. John B. Goodenough,
Witness to Grace
(Publish America, 2008).

2
. Clare Grey, Barcelona speech, March 10, 2013.

7. Batteries Are a Treacherous World

1
.
The Electrician
(London), February 17, 1883, 329.

8. Creating NMC

1
. Steunenberg and Burris,
From Test Tube to Pilot Plant
, 470.

11. The New Boss

1
. Industry size, Fantasy Sports Ad Network, http://www.fantasysportsadnetwork.com/aboutfantasy.htm.

15. The Start-up

1
. Author interview with Michael Pak, December 2, 2013.

16. Out of India (and China and Africa)

1
.
San Jose Mercury News
, www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_22094415/asian-workers-now-dominate-silicon-valley-tech-jobs.

2
. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), www.oecd.org/unitedstates/2102002.pdf.

3
. Inside Higher Ed
, www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/04/03/economic-conditions-key-keeping-foreign-phd-graduates-us.

19. The Car Man

1
. Civil suit RG13704405 by Kapadia et al. in Alamada County Superior Court, 12.

29. Orlando

1
. Edward L. Morse, “Energy 2020: North America, the New Middle East?” March 20, 2012, Citi notes to clients.

33. ARPA-E

1
. Kapadia lawsuit, 16.

34. The Old and the Young

1
.
New York Times
, Apr. 13, 2012, www.nytimes.com/2012/04/15/automobiles/how-green-are-electric-cars-depends-on-where-you-plug-in.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

37. Getting to a Deal

1
. From a public relations . . . Envia “Corporate Presentation” by Kapadia, February 23, 2012. Kapadia presented the fourteen-slide deck to a small group of journalists at ARPA-E on February 27 but it was not released to the general press or released publicly.

42. The News from Envia

1
. Private Crane report, June 28, 2012.

2
. Kapadia lawsuit, 31.

44. Second Quarter Review

1
. Kapadia lawsuit. The author verified the substance of the letter with a source in a position to know its content.

2
. See Appendix A.

45. Black Box

1
. From Kapadia’s “Corporate Presentation,” February 23, 2012.

2
. See Appendix B.

46. Back to the Race

1
. “LG Chem to Supply Batteries for 200-Mile Electric Cars in 2016—CFO,” Reuters, July 18, 2014, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/18/lg-chem-batteries-idUSL4N0PT25U20140718.

The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. To find the corresponding locations in the text of this digital version, please use the “search” function on your e-reader. Note that not all terms may be searchable.

A123, 39, 108, 185

bankruptcy of, 251–52, 262

and battery competition, 131, 149, 154, 155

and voltage fade, 157–59

Abraham, Daniel, 142

Air Force, U.S., 23–24

Akerson, Dan, 255–56, 260, 285

Amgen, 127

Amine, Khalil, 49–54, 185, 212

aggressive style of, 56–57, 126

and Argonne, 53–54, 55–57, 67, 103, 210, 235–38, 286–87

and battery competition, 180, 182, 186, 197

and Battery Hub, 137, 138–39, 141–42, 149, 221, 227, 243, 245, 250–51

and En-Caesar, 135, 138, 139

and entrepreneurship, 126, 128, 192

foreign staff of, 91–94, 97–100, 102

and Kumar, 85, 170, 193–94

and NMC, 57, 59, 67, 68, 72, 77, 78, 79, 127, 194

patents and papers of, 57, 59, 92, 97–98, 100, 102, 127, 236

Ammundsen, Brett, 46

Anderman, Menahem, 180–81, 182, 196–97

Apollo mission, 122–23, 129, 143

Apple, 198, 250–51

ARCH, 127–28

Argonne National Laboratory:

Advanced Photon Source, 168–69

and battery competition, 9, 47, 48, 132–33, 137–38, 149–51, 165, 166;
see also
Battery Hub

Battery Department, 13, 17, 20, 27, 41, 55, 65, 72–74, 92, 100, 105, 128, 137–38, 155, 160, 208, 211, 216, 221, 225, 235, 253

beam line in, 168–69, 260–61, 285

collaboration in, 140–44, 150, 170–71, 188, 204, 247

competition within, 55–57, 77–78, 141

and En-Caesar, 135–36, 138

and Energy Department, 123, 137, 193

foreign-born scientists in, 91–94, 96–100

history of, 10, 11–13

intellectual property unit, 64–65, 72, 98, 141, 153, 247

and internal combustion engines, 182–85, 187

and international patents, 65–69, 98, 197

and NMC, 4, 5, 41, 43–45, 47, 57–59, 60, 65, 67–69, 70–72, 83, 115, 127, 141, 162, 277

Obama’s visit to, 268–71

old vs. young staff in, 209–13

promotions in, 236–38

publications from, 59, 77, 78, 92, 97, 98, 100, 105, 171, 216

risk aversion in, 125–28

and robots, 79

scientists in, 13, 14, 16, 73, 77–78, 93–94, 98, 100, 104, 123

Wan Gang’s visit to, 3–6, 7, 9, 27

warehouse in, 187–89

work hazards in, 16–17

Arora, Rohit, 274

ARPA-E:

competition, 193–98, 201

Summit, 199–206, 207, 213, 230–31, 233, 257, 262, 263–66, 272, 277, 278, 279

Asahi Kasei, 112, 261, 267

AT&T, 13, 61–62, 119, 120, 122

BASF, 9, 67, 115, 116, 156

Basu, Samar, 119

batteries:

anode improvement in, 192–94

capacity of, 278

changing the energy density of gasoline, 149

charging, 58

cobalt in, 42, 153, 251

competition for, 4–6, 7, 37, 74, 75–78, 110, 118, 124, 129, 132–36, 137–39, 149–51, 167, 181, 184, 192–94, 204, 232, 245, 253, 283–84

DC resistance in, 230–31

and electric age, 17–19

in electric vehicles,
see
electric vehicles

in electronic devices, 7, 25, 35, 45, 152, 167, 250

elements of, 18

Energizer, 19, 36

energy density in, 278

and energy storage, 37

fires and explosions in, 21, 24, 35, 44, 59, 134, 145–46, 197, 214, 233

foreign-born inventors, 91–94, 96

400-watt-per-hour, 194–95, 196, 197, 201, 206, 207, 230–31, 262–64, 272–74, 277–79

future outlook of, 178–80

intercalation in, 21, 25

internal combustion engines vs., 182–85

iron oxide spinel in, 29, 30–32

layered-layered or composite, 44

lead-acid, 19, 20, 149

lithium, 24, 25, 35, 58, 192–93

lithium-air, 99, 235–36

lithium-cobalt-oxide, 25, 27, 28–29, 31, 35, 38, 41, 44, 45, 52, 58, 119, 152–54, 156, 250

lithium-ion, 5, 9, 18, 31, 35–36, 41–42, 45, 48, 58, 59, 65, 68, 70, 75–76, 79, 101, 102, 108, 110, 113, 119, 125, 129–32, 142, 145–46, 152, 153, 178, 187, 194, 198, 210, 248, 285

lithium-iron-phosphate, 9, 38, 39, 44, 154

lithium-manganese- oxide (Li2MnO3), 43–44, 46, 47, 58–59, 170, 171–73

lithium-sulfur, 209

manganese-nickel, 43, 46

manganese oxide, 41–42, 46

manganese spinel (LiMn2O4) in, 32, 38, 44, 47

Nelson-Gallagher model, 212, 213–14, 243–44

nickel-cobalt-aluminum (18650s), 232–33

nickel manganese cobalt (NMC), 4, 5, 9, 36, 41, 43–45, 47, 57–59, 60, 65, 68, 70, 79, 83, 110–13, 115, 127, 128, 141, 155, 166–67, 169, 197, 233, 257, 263–66, 277, 285

nickel metal hydride, 152, 153

NMC 2.0, 59, 71–72, 74, 76, 83, 103, 110, 111, 131–32, 152–61, 165, 170–72, 195, 197–98, 231, 250–51, 261, 278, 283, 285–87

Orlando conference on, 177, 180–81, 195–98, 205

rechargeable, 18–19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 37, 152

silicon anode, 193, 194, 196, 231, 261, 263, 266

spinel, 28–29, 30–32, 33, 38–39, 45, 110, 113, 152, 153

sulfur-sodium, 20, 25, 42

and 300-mile car, 194

200-mile battery, 285

voltage fade in, 154–61, 162–65, 166–67, 168–73, 205, 210, 227–28, 233–34, 238–41, 263, 278, 283, 285–86

Zebra, 28, 47

zinc carbon, 24, 31

Battery Hub:

Argonne’s proposal for, 138–39, 204, 212–14, 217–22, 223–27, 228–29, 235, 243–45, 253

award to Argonne, 250–54, 282

collaboration in, 132–33, 140–43, 150, 217

competition in, 132, 135, 137, 242–43, 249, 253

and Congress, 137

first year of, 286

and GM, 216–17

goals of, 132, 216, 232

oral presentations, 245–48

re-creating Bell Labs, 131, 133, 216, 282

Bayh, Birch, 126

Bayh-Dole Act (1980), 126

Bay Partners, 85–86, 112

Bell Laboratories, 13, 21, 61–62, 118–23, 129, 192

Nobel Prizes to, 150, 244

re-creation of, 131, 133, 136, 140, 216, 282, 283

Bosch, 183

Bowling, Chad, 162–64

Brinkman, Bill, 119, 135, 136

Brodd, Ralph, 65

Brown, Jerry, 228

Buffett, Warren, 39

Bunel, Emilio, 91, 237

Burrell, Tony, 91, 141, 160–61, 228, 235–37

Bush, George W., 125, 145, 203

Bybee, Clint, 127

BYD, 6, 39

Cairns, Elton, 20, 235

Cavuto, Neil, 145

Ceder, Gerd, 220

cellular phones, 122, 186

Chamberlain, Jeff, 3, 6, 9, 40, 60–69, 70–74, 100, 125, 208, 209

and Amine, 77, 138–39, 141–42

and battery competition, 75, 77–78, 79, 91, 135–36, 139, 140–44, 149, 184, 190

and Battery Department, 73–74, 105, 128–31, 160, 216, 235–37

and Battery Hub, 133, 135, 137–39, 141–44, 204, 213, 214, 216, 217, 220–22, 223–29, 232, 235, 243, 246–48, 252–53, 282, 283, 286

and Croy, 239–41

and En-Caesar, 133–36, 137, 138

and Envia/Kumar, 86–87, 88, 106–7, 115–17, 171, 203–4, 231–32, 277

and intellectual property, 64–66, 68–69, 71, 73, 86, 149

management style of, 143, 217, 221

and NMC, 9, 67–68, 70, 72, 74, 160

and sales, 64, 68, 87, 128–31

and Thackeray, 27, 73–74, 77–78, 128, 141–42, 221

and venture capital, 64, 84, 86–87, 106, 201

and Volt, 145–48

and voltage fade, 155, 156–57, 159, 160, 239

and Wan Gang, 3, 6, 60, 76, 79

ChampionsGate conference, 177, 180–81, 195–98

China, 96–97, 124

automobile market in, 178, 180

and battery competition, 4–6, 7, 71, 79, 99, 100, 103, 136

Cultural Revolution in, 97

and electric vehicles, 4, 8, 142, 177–78, 180, 184, 282–83

patents filed in, 66, 197

resources imported by, 61, 187

Chrysler, 286

Chu, Steven, 199–200

and Battery Hub, 133, 137, 204, 252, 253

and Bell Labs, 119, 120–22

and Energy Department, 119, 123–24, 135

re-creating Bell Labs, 131, 133, 140

climate change, 8, 60, 84, 143

Clinton, Bill, 125, 195, 199

Coetzer, Johan, 28

Coghill, Holly, 218–19, 220, 225, 228

Crabtree, George, 226–27, 243, 245–46, 248, 252–53

Crandall, Keith, 127

Crane, evaluations by, 195, 202, 262, 277–78, 279

Croy, Jason, 168–73, 228, 234, 238–41, 262, 278, 285–86, 287

crystallography, 31, 33

Dahn, Jeff, 58, 153, 196–98, 248

Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, 47, 58, 153, 196

DARPA, 129, 203

David, Bill, 32, 33

diesel engines, 183, 184

Dole, Robert, 126

Dow Chemical, 116, 149, 150, 151, 196, 235, 243

Edison, Thomas A., 36–37, 121

electricity, wind and solar, 8, 191

electric vehicles:

batteries for, 4–6, 8, 19, 25, 39, 44, 47–48, 59, 60, 68, 70, 72, 74, 75, 76, 103, 107, 109, 125, 131–32, 142, 153–56, 161, 195–98, 207, 230–31, 255

five-five-five, 246, 248, 270

forty miles on one charge, 44–45, 47

future outlook for, 178–81, 183–85, 189

green footprint of, 214–15

hybrids, 8, 20, 36, 76, 109, 177–78, 179, 184, 185, 257

market for, 106, 109, 177–78, 181, 183, 186, 257, 267

new research system for, 244, 245–46, 286

production costs of, 183, 198, 201, 257

reliability in, 154–55, 187

Emanuel, Rahm, 131, 228, 253, 254

En-Caesar (National Center for Energy Storage Research), 133–36, 137, 138–39, 150, 282

EnerDel, 131, 185

Energy Department, U.S.:

Annual Merit Review, 141, 227–28

and ARPA-E, 193–95, 199–206

and auto industry, 105–6, 107

and Battery Hub, 133, 138, 204, 216, 218–19, 224, 226, 245, 247, 249, 250–52, 282

conference held by, 190–91

and En-Caesar, 134–36

and Envia, 165–66, 231–32

and national laboratories, 10, 11, 40, 77, 78, 105, 119, 122, 123, 127, 135, 140, 167, 287

and publication, 166

risk aversion in, 125–26

and Sematech, 129–31

and voltage fade, 158–61, 167, 283

energy outlook, 178–80

Envia Systems:

and ARPA-E, 193–95, 201–3, 207, 213

and battery competition, 78, 105–8, 193–95, 197, 201–3, 204–6, 207–8, 213–14

buyout sought by, 108, 201, 205–6

and Croy, 238–41

and DC resistance, 230–31

and GM, 110–17, 205, 206, 230–31, 255–59, 260–67, 272–75, 276–81, 286

and Kumar,
see
Kumar, Sujeet

lawsuits against, 280–81

and licensing, 86–87, 151, 156

and NMC, 72, 111, 156, 162, 169–71, 195, 196, 197–98, 202, 233–34, 286

start-up, 71–72, 78, 86, 165, 201

and venture capital, 86–87, 111–14

and voltage fade, 157–58, 163–65, 171

ExxonMobil, 8, 21, 35, 134

energy outlook by, 178–80, 191, 232

Faguy, Peter, 159–61, 166, 227, 283

Faraday, Michael, 27

Fermi, Enrico, 10, 23

financial meltdown (2008–2009), 7, 181, 190

Ford, Henry, 124

Ford Motor Company, 19–20, 21, 25, 158, 183, 286

fossil fuels, 121, 143, 178, 180, 183, 188

Franklin, Benjamin, 18

Freund, Erwin O., 11–12

Frisch, Damon, 231, 260

Gallagher, Kevin, 100, 185, 207–10, 224, 233

and ARPA-E, 201, 204

and Battery Hub, 212–14, 228, 243–45, 252

and Envia, 201, 208, 213–14, 277, 279

and Nelson-Gallagher model, 212, 213–14, 243–44

and Obama visit, 268–71

and voltage fade, 158, 239, 285–86

Galvani, Luigi, 18

Gates, Bill, 195, 199

Geely, 6, 284

General Electric (GE), 8, 62

General Motors (GM), 71, 183, 188, 196, 284, 285

bankruptcy filing by, 114

and Chevy Spark, 214

and DC resistance, 230–31

and Envia, 110–17, 205, 206, 230–31, 255–59, 260–67, 272–75, 276–81, 286

and EV1, 184

GM Ventures, 109–16, 151, 205

and Volt,
see
Volt

Goldwasser, Eugene, 127

Goodenough, John, 21, 22–26, 91, 113, 210, 269

and Battery Hub, 242–43

leadership style of, 25–26, 30, 101

and lithium-cobalt-oxide battery, 25, 27, 28–29, 31, 35, 38, 44, 45, 52, 58, 119, 152, 154

and Padhi, 37–39

and patents, 33, 36, 38–39, 66

and Thackeray, 30–32, 33, 38

Goodenough-Kanamori rules, 23

Greenberger, Jim, 130–31

Grove, Andrew, 75–76, 129

Gruen, Dieter, 10–11, 13–15, 209

Henriksen, Gary, 236–37

Herschel, William, 27

Higgs boson, 119

Hillebrand, Don, 182–85, 187–89, 228, 284, 286

Honda, 115, 116, 117, 206, 231, 257

Howard, Matt, 268–69

Howell, Dave, 107, 134–35, 160, 167, 210

Hu Jintao, 4

hybrid vehicles, 8, 20, 36, 76, 109, 177–78, 179, 184, 185, 257

Hyundai, 196

IBM, 186, 206

India, Union Carbide leak in, 36

Intel, 75–76, 121, 129

intercalation, use of term, 21

internal combustion engine, 19, 45, 109, 132, 154–55, 179, 181, 183

iPhone, 129, 187, 198, 250–51

Isaacs, Eric, 119, 269, 286

and Battery Hub, 135, 137–38, 216, 218–19, 220–21, 225–26, 243–44, 248, 250, 251, 253, 254

and En-Caesar, 135, 137

Iyer, Hari, 256, 258, 262–66, 274, 276, 277

Jae-kook Kim, 56, 57

Japan:

battery production in, 35, 102–3, 136, 178, 192

competition in, 36, 75, 99, 129, 130, 177–78, 214, 280

consumer battery market in, 5, 7, 8, 9, 142

and electric vehicles, 184, 284

patents in, 39, 66, 98–99, 197

U.S. ideas moving to, 36, 187, 205

Jobs, Steve, 202

Johnson, Chris:

and lithium-ion, 41, 43, 58, 153

and NMC, 41, 43, 58–59, 72, 153, 159, 236, 278

and patents, 46, 56–57, 72, 153