JUMP START: For a Caltech-trained scientist and...

JUMP START: For a Caltech-trained scientist and conservative businessman, Lon E. Bell is embarked on a Quixote-like quest: to build an electric-car industry from the wreckage of the Southern California defense business. . . . So far, he’s amassed $20 million in public and private backing for a consortium called Calstart that is bringing 40 companies into a partnership to supply the world’s auto makers with electric-car parts made by thousands of laid-off aerospace workers (B1).