Ever since the Italian count Alessandro Volta invented the first electric battery in 1799, scientists have sought to ramp up its performance. Even though we have sent a robot to Mars and split the atom, it has proved surprisingly difficult. Now a global race is on to create a battery powerful enough to run an electric car 300 miles (483 kilometers) on one charge. The prize is a market worth as much as $300 billion annually.

From his office in Washington, D.C., Steve Levine, author of The Powerhouse: Inside the Invention of a Battery to Save the World, explains why he wrote a book his wife said would be boring; what makes a battery guy tick; why it is