In the latter half of the 19th century Gustave Pierre Trouve, a modest but brilliant Parisian electrical engineer, conceived and patented some 75 inventions, including the endoscope, the electric car and the frontal headlamp. He also designed an electric boat - complete with outboard motor, headlight and horn - an electric rifle, an electric piano and a luminous fountain, and developed wearable technology and ultraviolet light (PUVA) therapy. Unlike his famous contemporary Nikola Tesla, who worked for Thomas Edison and was patronised by George Westinghouse, Trouve never came to America. A confirmed bachelor disinterested in industrialisation, he was a gradually forgotten following his accidental death in 1902. This first-ever biography of Trouve details the fascinating life of the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor once dubbed "the French Edison."

Since 1881, isolated prototypes of electric tricycles and bicycles were patented and sometimes tested. Limited editions followed in the wartime 1940s, but it was not until the lithium-ion battery became available in the first decade of this century that urban pedelecs and more powerful open-road motorcycles-sometimes with speeds of over 200 mph-became possible and increasingly popular. Today's ever-growing fleets of one-wheel, two-wheel and three-wheel light electric vehicles can now be counted in their hundreds of millions. In this third installment of his electric transport history series, the author covers the lives of the innovative engineers who have developed these e-wheelers.

Welcomed at end of the 19th century as the solution to the severe problem of horse manure in city streets, electric trucks soon became the norm for short-haul commercial deliveries. Though reliable, they were gradually replaced by gasoline-powered trucks for long-haul deliveries-although a fleet of electric milk trucks survived in Great Britain into the 1960s. Industrial electric vehicles never disappeared from factories and ports. During the past decade, with the availability of the lithium-ion battery, the electric truck is back on the road for all payloads and all distances. The fourth in a series covering the history and future of electric transport, this book chronicles the work of the innovative engineers who perfected e-trucks large and small.

As world demand for electrical energy increases, it will be the ingenuity and skill of brilliant electrochemists that enables us to utilize the planet's mineral reserves responsibly. This biographical dictionary profiles 85 electrochemists from 19 nations who during the past 270 years have researched and developed ever more efficient batteries and energy cells. Each entry traces the subject's origin, education, discoveries and patents, as well as hobbies and family life. The breakthroughs of early innovators are cataloged and the work of living scientists and technicians is brought up to date. An appendix provides a cross-referenced timeline of innovation.

Man's attempts to harness the use of electricity for his dream to fly go back to well before the 19th century. Until the 1990's, due to battery weight and low energy, electricity could only remain a faithful accessory to piston aircraft, but with the arrival of lightweight construction materials, solar power, improved engines and the LiPo battery, the skies recently opened up to a whole fleet of electric aircraft around the world - from thumbnail insect-styled drones (UAVs) to stratospheric airships. About aviation's third revolution (following heavier-than-air and turbojet), this book also outlines the diversity of future trends for electric aircraft in the 21st century.

This is the first international history of the birth and rebirth of the electric boat and ship from 1835 to the present day. It celebrates the Golden Era of electric launches, 1880-1910. It narrates how, despite the arrival of the internal combustion engine, electric propulsion continued its progress with the turbo-electric ship. It shows how sustainable and hybrid technologies, pioneered in small inland waterways craft towards the end of the 20th Century, have recently been scaled up to the integrated electric propulsion of the largest ocean-going ships.

Protecting the planet is everyone's work. But we all have our own heroes in whatever area we are working. Planet Savers brings together the varied stories of the hundreds of movers and shakers that have spoken up throughout history and taken action to defend the world from pollution, deforestation, species loss and climate change. From Theodore Roosevelt to Al Gore; from Francis of Assisi to David Attenborough - and from hundreds more men and women that you will know little, if anything, about. Scientists, artists, business people, priests, lawyers, poets, politicians, activists and more, from every continent of the world. Their work has enthused us about the natural world and warned us that we must do much more to preserve it. The Indian woman who became the world's first environmental martyr; the Baptist Reverend who asked "What Would Jesus Drive?"; the Quaker big game hunter who set up the first conservation organisation; the Shakespearian actor who revolutionised organic gardening; and the housewife whose campaign against toxic waste forced a President to act. The book is a cornucopia of people who from time immemorial have put their careers, reputations and lives on the line to protect our planet from its governing inhabitants - the human race. Today, as thousands of species of animals and plants are faced with extinction, thousands of years of indigenous knowledge is lost in the face of technological advance, and we become more and more aware of the potential doomsday scenario of a warming world, we need Planet Savers more than ever. Our inspiration can be the 301 environmental lives portrayed in this book. These people cared enough to do something about it. Planet Savers is both a tribute and a catalyst: a tribute to the people that loved the planet enough to want to act to save it, and a catalyst for the people who will be inspired to act after reading it. New Planet Savers are at work right now in rainforests and megacities; in community centres and boardrooms; at road protests and in courtrooms, all over the world. If this book has one great aim it is to inspire you, the reader, to join them. It is a book that every home should own.