Electric battery common fuels such as gasoline. In automobiles, this is somewhat offset by the higher efficiency of electric motors in converting chemical energy to mechanical work, compared to combustion engines. The usage of "battery" to describe a group of electrical devices dates to Benjamin Franklin, who in 1748 described multiple Leyden jars by analogy to a battery of cannon (Benjamin Franklin borrowed the term "battery" from the military, which refers to weapons functioning together). Italian physicist Alessandro Volta built and described the first electrochemical battery, the voltaic pile, in 1800. This was a stack of copper and zinc plates, separated by
Sea Lion (battery-electric locomotive) Sea Lion (battery-electric locomotive) Sea Lion was a 2-foot gauge battery-electric locomotive built by Wingrove & Rogers in 1921 as works no. 313 for the Groudle Glen Railway on the Isle of Man. Together with its sister, "Polar Bear", it was intended that they would replace two Bagnall steam locos of the same names. However, the battery locos were not hugely successful, with "Sea Lion" being scrapped in 1922 following an incident where it fell down the side of the Groudle Glen. It has been proposed to build a replica "Sea Lion" at the Amberley Museum Railway, home of "Polar