Trough battery Trough battery The trough battery was a variant of Alessandro Volta's Voltaic Pile and was invented by William Cruickshank c. 1800. Volta's battery consisted of brine-soaked pieces of cloth sandwiched between zinc and copper discs, piled in a stack. This resulted in electrolyte leakage as the weight of the discs squeezed the electrolyte out of the cloth. Cruickshank solved this problem by laying the battery on its side in a rectangular box. The inside of this box was lined with shellac for insulation, and pairs of welded-together zinc and copper plates were laid out in this box, evenly spaced. The
Electric motorcycles and scooters and scooters today are powered by rechargeable lithium ion batteries, though some early models used nickel-metal hydride batteries. Alternative types of batteries are available. Z Electric Vehicle has pioneered use of a lead/sodium silicate battery (a variation on the classic lead acid battery invented in 1859, still prevalent in automobiles) that compares favorably with lithium batteries in size, weight, and energy capacity, at considerably less cost. EGen says its lithium-iron phosphate batteries are up to two-thirds lighter than lead acid batteries and offer the best battery performance for electric vehicles. In 2017, the first vehicle in the US to use