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
Battery electric multiple unit an expected life of seven years for the batteries. The train is due to run on the national network in summer 2018. In 2017, Vivarail battery trains were being considered for use on the Valley Lines network in South Wales. The trains would be battery powered, capable of being recharged via 25 kV OHLE. The Edison-Beach battery railcar was developed by Thomas Edison and Ralph H. Beach. The latter headed the "Railway Storage Battery Car Company" and the "Electric Car & Locomotive Corp". Car No. 105 of the Alaska Railroad was an Edison-Beach car, and examples operated on the Central