The Electric Battery

Kevin B. Jones, PhD, is director of Vermont Law School's Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE) and professor of energy technology and policy.Benjamin B. Jervey is the Climate and Energy Media Fellow at the Institute for Energy and the Environment at Vermont Law School.Matthew Roche graduated from Vermont Law School in 2016 and was a research associate at the Institute for Energy and the Environment (IEE).Sara Barnowski is a third-year law student at Vermont Law School and a Research Associate with the IEE. She holds degrees in environmental engineering from Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

An easy-to-understand and engaging exploration of the battery's development across history that reveals current technological advances, celebrates the innovators who have led the charge forward, and shows how the electric battery represents the path to a low-carbon future.Now more than ever, consumers want to understand not only the basic facts behind the electric battery and the challenges of battery storage in everyday devices, including vehicles, but also whether increased, widespread application of battery technology has real environmental benefits that could change the future of our planet. Is 21st-century battery technology the foundation on which our low-carbon future will be built? The Electric Battery: Charging Forward to a Low-Carbon Future documents the long history of the battery and identifies the reasons it is now a key to achieving a low-carbon world.The book provides an unprecedented and easy-to-understand explanation of both the policy issues and technological challenges facing the battery in the quest to significantly reduce humanity's collective "carbon footprint" on the earth. Readers will be able to intelligently evaluate the chances of electric storage batteries ultimately becoming as mainstream as petroleum-product-fueled infrastructure and vehicles. The chapters in the book break down the complexity of the technology and elucidate the historic confluence of events that makes battery technology economically viable to any reader looking to understand the technological and policy breakthroughs that could enable a low-carbon future-for this generation as well as for subsequent ones.

Written by an Institute for Energy and the Environment research team with the requisite knowledge of energy policy and of science, as well as communication skills, to research and present a compelling narrative on electric batteries past, present, and future

Foreword by Donald R. SadowayAcknowledgmentsChapter 1 The Electric Battery and a Low-Carbon FutureIntroductionWhat Is an Electric Battery?The Electric Battery as Core Climate SolutionHow the Battery Begets Cleaner CarsHow the Battery Helps Integrate Intermittent RenewablesThe Electric Battery: A Very Brief HistoryWhy Is It Called a Battery?Alessandro Volta and the Voltaic PilePlanté and the First Rechargeable BatteryLeclanché and the First Dry CellInvention of the Alkaline Battery: Jungner versus EdisonAlkaline's True Arrival: Lewis Urry's EvereadyThe Leading Edge of LithiumWhat's Next?Chapter 2 The Technical Challenge: More Powerful and Longer-Lasting BatteriesIntroductionPrimer: Electricity and StorageWhat Is Energy?What Is Electricity?How Does Electricity Transport Energy?Battery Basics: What Are the Components of a Battery?How Is Electric Potential Created?Electricity Storage: How Are Batteries Quantified and Compared?Traditional Battery ChemistriesLithium-Ion BatteriesLeading-Edge Battery ChemistriesBeyond the Battery: How Are Batteries Configured for Scalability?How Do Batteries Rely on Other Technologies?Building the BatteryWhere Do Battery Materials Come From?How Are Batteries Manufactured?Remaining Technological ChallengesConclusionChapter 3 The Battery's Environmental Footprint: How Clean Is the Technology?IntroductionUnderstanding the Life-Cycle Environmental ImpactLife-Cycle Assessment StandardsGoal and Scope: Establishing Boundary ConditionsDetermining Life-Cycle Inventory AnalysisEvaluating Total Environmental ImpactConducting Sensitivity AnalysesLife-Cycle Environmental Impact of Lithium-Ion BatteriesBoundary ConditionsTotal Life-Cycle Environmental ImpactsImpact of Spillover EffectsRegional Grid OperationsAssociated Social ImpactsConclusion: Is the Electric Battery a Clean Technology?Chapter 4 The Battery as the Enabler for Electrifying MobilityTechnological Change and the AutomobileThe Climate FactorA Long and Winding Road for Electric Car DevelopmentEarly EV HistoryFirst Regulations for Auto EmissionsCAFE Standards Set the Stage for an Electric Vehicle ComebackCalifornia's Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) RegulationThe Rise and Fall of the EVThe Popularity of the Toyota PriusThe Rise of the Modern Electric VehicleThe Global EV LeaderInfluential EV Market FactorsThe EV BatteryGallons versus Kilowatt HoursWhat Determines EV Range?The Current EV Battery MarketFuture Performance and ResearchEnd of Battery Life and RecyclingBattery-Charging InfrastructureEV Charging Levels and InfrastructureBattery Design and ChargingElectric Vehicle Incentives and ProgramsEV Case Study: California's EV LeadershipEV Case Study: Blue IndyEV Case Study: Norway's Global LeadershipMass TransitHeavy-Duty Vehicle MarketConclusionChapter 5 Batteries for Home and Business Storage: Transforming the Customer Side of the MeterIntroduction: Energy Storage, the Electric Grid and a Low-Carbon FutureTesla's Big Battery AnnouncementSonnen: German Engineering for Behind-the-Meter StorageBatteries for the Home and Business: End-Use Storage OpportunitiesDynamic Pricing and Solar Energy ArbitrageDemand Charge ReductionHome Consumption of Solar PVStorage as a Backup Energy ResourceBehind-the-Meter Pricing Plans and ServicesCase Study: SRP-Innovative Demand Rates for Solar and Storage?Case Study: SMUD Pioneering Smart Rates and StorageSMUD's Plans for Charging Forward?Case Study: GMP-Innovative Fees for Battery Services?Case Study: Stem Is the Behind-the-Meter Leader in SCE's Storage ProcurementConcluding CommentsChapter 6 Batteries for Grid Storage: Wholesale Electric Markets, Renewables, and MicrogridsIntroduction: Grid-Level StorageBulk Energy Storage Opportunities: Wholesale Markets for Energy StorageMarkets for Energy and CapacityMarkets for Ancillary ServicesTransmission Deferral and Congestion MitigationRenewable Energy IntegrationThe Utility Scale Battery Storage MarketCase Study: AES Energy Storage Leading the Grid-Level TransformationOther Grid Storage ApplicationsBattery Storage as a Virtual Power PlantFrom the Car to the Grid: Reusing End-of-Life Car Batteries for Grid StorageBatteries for Grid Resilience: Microgrids and StorageOverview of Microgrid DevelopmentThe Path Forward for Grid StorageChapter 7 Alternate Forms of Electric StorageIntroductionMain Applications of Alternative Storage: The Bulk Power SystemEnergy and Capacity Storage OpportunitiesAncillary Services Storage OpportunitiesEnergy Storage Systems: Beyond the BatteryPumped HydroCase Study: California's Bison Peak ProjectsCase Study: Iowa Hill Pumped Storage ProjectRail Energy StorageCompressed Air Energy StorageCase Study: Lightsail Distributed Compressed Air SystemsSuperconducting Magnetic Energy StorageSupercapacitorsFlywheelsCase Study: Beacon PowerThermal Energy StoragePumped Heat Electricity StorageLiquid Air Electricity StorageMolten SaltCase Study: Crescent Dunes Solar Energy ProjectThermal Ice and WaterCase Study: Ice BearConclusion: Ready for Prime Time?Chapter 8 Charging Forward to a Low-Carbon FutureThe Paris AgreementNational Policies that Impact the Electric BatteryEnding Fossil Fuel SubsidiesCAFE StandardsThe Clean Power PlanThe Role of State PolicyCalifornia's Energy Storage Mandate and MoreOther States Follow California's LeadThe Electric Battery Is Charging ForwardNotesIndexAbout the Authors