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A behind-the-scenes look at the robustly competitive race to dominate the market for electric cars, the larger-than-life moguls behind them, and the changes that are transforming the auto industry
In the 1980s, it was unimaginable that the home computer would become as common and easy to use as a toaster. Today, plug-in charging stations and smart grids seem like something still far off in the future. But by 2020, the auto industry will look very different from today’s field of troubled auto giants. The combination of technological breakthroughs and charging networks driven by global warming and peak oil makes it clear that revolutionary change in the auto industry is happening right now.
In High Voltage, Jim Motavalli captures this period of unprecedented change, documenting the evolution from internal combustion engines to electric power. Driven by the auto world’s ambitious and sometimes outlandish personalities, the book chronicles the race to dominate the market, focusing on big players like Tesla and Fisker, as well as a tiny start-up and a battery supplier. Flashing forward to the changes we’ll see in the coming years, High Voltage shows a not-so-distant future where we will live on a smart grid, our cars “fueling,” that is, charging, while we shop or sleep. The ramifications of these changes will be on a grander scale than most of us ever imagined—altering foreign policy, reducing trade deficits, and perhaps even ending global warming.
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“Electricity has always been the best way to power an automobile. At the dawn of the last century, electric cars were the future, and 100 years later they’re the future again. For that reason, I’m sure you’ll find this book fascinating.” —Jay Leno
“The electric car can satisfy over 90 percent of our transportation needs—today. Jim Motavalli's High Voltage lays it all out in a clear and concise manner, for all to see. So what are we waiting for?” —Ed Begley Jr.
“Jim’s been on top of the electric car story since day 1—even calling out oil lobbyists on their clandestine anti-EV campaigns back in the 1990s. High Voltage lands us in in 2012 with a well-researched, up-to-the minute dispatch from the front line of one of the most exciting industrial revolutions of our time.” —Chris Paine, director of Who Killed the Electric Car? and Revenge of the Electric Car
“With more than two decades of reporting on clean cars to his credit, Jim Motavalli understands the intricacies of the electric-vehicle scene better than just about anyone. His latest book on the subject is an enjoyable, wide-ranging tour of the 21st-century electric-car revival—essential reading for anyone who cares about the future of transportation.” —Seth Fletcher, author of Bottled Lightning and a senior editor at Popular Science
"Positively electric! Each chapter surges with high voltage. When do we see the movie?" —TOM and RAY MAGLIOZZI, NPR'S Car Talk
"Even if you aren't a car enthusiast, [Motavalli's] enthusiasm for the recent surge in electric and plug-in hybrid options on showroom floors, mixed with auto history, first-hand driving experiences and interviews with the industry's key players, makes for an entertaining read...Motavalli's behind-the-scenes perspective gives readers real insight into the possibilities offered by electric cars which clearly will no longer be relegated to a niche market." —E MAGAZINE
About the Author
JIM MOTAVALLI is the author of Forward Drive and several other books. He blogs on clean cars for the New York Times, CBS, and NPR’s Car Talk, among others. He lives in Connecticut.
Jim Motavalli writes on environmental topics for The New York Times, CBS MoneyWatch, NPR's Car Talk, AOL, Mother Nature Network and TheDailyGreen.com (Hearst). He is author or editor of six books, including Forward Drive: The Race to Build Clean Cars for the Future, Feeling the Heat: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Climate Change, and Naked in the Woods: Joseph Knowles and the Legacy of Frontier Fakery. His next book, tentatively titled High Voltage (about electric cars), will be published by Rodale. He is also a senior writer for E/The Environmental Magazine, a contributor to the Environmental Defense Fund publications and to Knowledge@Wharton at the University of Pennsylvania.
Motavalli is a two-time winner of the Global Media Award from the Population Institute, and hosts a radio program on WPKN-FM in Connecticut, with frequent live music. He lectures widely on climate and transportation issues.
The book is well-written, in the typical NYT journalistic style, and very comprehensive. Mr. Motavalli managed to chronicle in a short book the rebirth of plug-in electric cars (PEVs) and the state-of-the-art of the industry as of mid 2011. As the book's introduction explains, PEVs include all-electric cars (EVs or BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), but not the conventional gasoline-electric hybrids, such as the Prius, which do not plug-in.
The book was very well-researched, with a lot of primary content as many key players were interviewed just for the book, and of course, Mr. Motavalli's ample experience as a green car journalist, bringing along all his behind-the-wheels test drive experience with almost all the plug-in electric cars available in the world today. The book covers all relevant aspects regarding PEVs, advantages, disadvantages, barriers to wide adoption, the key role of EV battery technology, the deployment of charging infrastructure, fast charging standards, battery swapping, you name, every aspect is covered. There is an entire chapter devoted to Motavalli's test drives of several PEVs, which includes his experience with the Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, Tesla Model S, Th!nk City, Aptera 2e and the Toyota Highlander FCHV. By the way, electric vans and truck are out of the scope of the book.
The book is aimed for a wide audience, not just the early adopters, techies and green car fans. Actually, regular consumers with an interest in PEVs will find this book quite a primer to help them decide whether now is the right time to go electric or wait. I believe it would have been helpful for the layman to include some pictures, at least of the most relevant PEVs, such as the Volt and Leaf....
My other quibbles about the book have to do with its bias towards the American market. Despite covering all PEVs from the big players and start-ups, with the exception of China, the discussion is mostly focused around those PEVs already available or slated for the U.S. market. Surprisingly there is almost nothing about the Mitsubishi i-MiEV (renamed Mitsubishi i for the American-spec version) , launched more than a year before the Nissan Leaf and actually, sharing the leadership in global sales of electric cars as of October 2011. The i-MiEV is only mentioned a couple of times in the context of plug charging standards. The REVAi (or G-Wiz) is also missing, despite having sold a few thousand units since 2001. And the Japanese market is only covered in terms of its charging infrastructure and charging standards, despite sharing the world leadership with the U.S. in terms of PEV sales. Also, the book has a very interesting chapter about the potential of Iceland to become the first 100% electric transportation country, but surprisingly there is nothing about Norway, despite being the country with the most PEVs per capita in the world. It would have been interesting to learn some lessons from the Norwegians, who are ahead of the rest of the world.
The last chapter presents the author's vision of commuting in 2030, a very creative scenario indeed, but Mr. Motavalli closes the book with a down to earth view of what he believes is likely to happen next, and his "Ten Most Likely to Succeed" list is included. I agree with most of the cars in the list, and also share with the author his educated guess that the chance of survival is higher for the Chevy Volt, the Nissan Leaf, and the Prius Plug-in, but not for the Ford Focus Electric, which has a base price higher than the Leaf and the same as the Volt (to be fair, pricing of the Prius PHEV and the Focus EV was not available when the book was finished). I believe that price is the most important factor for the successful adoption of plug-in hybrids and all-electric cars, therefore today's premium with respect to gasoline-powered cars will have to shrink significantly for PEVs to become affordable and the remaining premium has to be paid back in a few years, just like conventional hybrids today. And finally, just as Jim Motavalli wished for in the book, if I had the $41,000 to spare on a car, I'd spend it on the Volt, really a technological marvel and a game-changer.
I read the Kindle version, which comes with active hyperlinks to the web for many of the endnotes for each chapter, so frequently I went back and forth between the web and the book to check out further info. A very handy feature indeed. Nevertheless, I have a complaint for Amazon because in doing this back and forth at some point the Whispersync software lost track of the real last location, showing the endnotes as my last location. This bug was really annoying because I often switch the reading between my iPad and my iPod, so I had to synchronize the devices manually with go to.
I think it is about time that Amazon adds a feature to allow the user reset the `Furthest Page Read.'. Sometimes I like to peek the final pages or check something ahead of the reading (just as you do in a regular book), or simply do a word search. Nowadays I have to refrain from doing so to make sure I do not lose my last reading location. Or, is this a particular problem with the book's Kindle version I bought?
PS: I google for a solution. It seems Amazon expect you to email costumer service to reset the last location. What a lousy solution. The Kindle should allow it to do it yourself.Read more ›
Here is an outline of what you can find in this book:
Introduction: lists types of electric vehicles (EVs), including battery electrics (Tesla Roadster and Model S, Nissan Leaf, Ford Focus, Daimler SmartForTwo, BMW i3, Honda Fit, Fiat 500, Think City, Coda, Wheego LiFe); plug-in hybrids (Chevrolet Volt, Fisker Karma, Ford C-Max Energi, Toyota Prius Plug-In); hybrids (Toyota Prius, Honda Insight, Ford Fusion).
1) Racing for the goal: bios of Elon Musk of Tesla Motors and Henrik Fisker of Fisker Automotive.
2) Building the batteries: names major battery suppliers and their auto-company partners, including A123 Systems (Fisker), Ener1 (Think, Volvo), Johnson Controls-Saft (BMW, Mercedes, Ford), SB LiMotive (BMW), Valence (Smith Electric Vehicles, Brammo), LG Chem (General Motors), NEC (Nissan), Boston-Power (Saab).
3) From computers to cars: explains why California, although it is a great place to market electric vehicles, might not be the best place to build them.
4) The big players: Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt are current leaders, but other major auto companies are also developing electric vehicles.
5) Charging ahead: how to build networks for fast charging or battery swaps to allow for long-distance travel in electric vehicles.
6) The smart grid: how changes to rate structures and meters could work toward charging electric vehicles without requiring additional generating capacity.
7) Chinese puzzles: discusses production of electric vehicles in China by BYD and other major companies.
8) Iceland's fast track: how low-cost electricity and high-cost oil imports could encourage rapid increase in use of electric vehicles....
9) On the road: reports of recent test drives of Chevy Volt, Nissan Leaf, plus other more exotic electric cars.
10) Eden attained? vision for a high-speed commute in the year 2030 plus predictions of which electric vehicles are most likely to succeed in the near future.
Notes: 19 pages of endnotes organized by chapter.
Bibliography: 13 titles of other books about electric vehicles published between 1996 and 2011.
Had to read this book for my Econ Class. Definitely came out learning more on various aspects of the Automotive world than expected.
I had little insight on the various classifications of cars, those being electric, plug-in, hybrid, etc. This book lays out in detail everything that is needed to know on all these types of cars and their benefit to us. It also describes a lot of circumstances the government faces in trying to approve certain types of cars because of their needs and it examines the international market of these cars.
I would definitely recommend this book for those of your who would love to know more about the electric car, its past, present and its future. Especially for those who want to learn more about what things we can do to help our environment out down the road!
Motavalli does a great job at digging deep into this topic. More people should be aware of what the EV industry has to offer and the author makes sure to explain every aspect of it- and the multitude of cars in the EV industry. Overall an educational and fun read!
For anyone considering the pros and cons of electric or hybrid cars, Jim Motavalli provides a comprehensive overview of the EV/Hybrid vehicle industry. As a seasoned environmental journalist, the author provides a realistic perspective of the new wave of green vehicles...a must-read for anyone who is concerned about environmental sustainability and the present state of the industry worldwide.
