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IN APRIL, Canadian mining firm Lithium Americas said it would build a mining operation in Argentina able to produce 40,000 tonnes of lithium per year. Bottled Lightning is a lively, well-researched yarn that explains their drive to do so: to power the next generation of electric and hybrid cars. The story is centred by way of example on the development of General Motors’ Chevy Volt hybrid.

Seth Fletcher delves into the depths of battery history – with a fascinating tale about Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta’s verbal fisticuffs over the origins of electricity – and fast-forwards through the tortured birthing pangs of the electric car’s enabling technologies, right up to the latter-day patent fights between the makers of lithium-ion superbatteries.

Bottled Lightning might sound like a paean to Ben Franklin’s experiments in electrochemistry, but it is much more. It is a compelling tale of using science to solve a global problem and an illuminating read for anybody interested in innovation.