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 vehicle vehicles today use an electric battery, consisting of electrochemical cells with external connections in order to provide power to the vehicle. Battery technology for EVs has developed from early lead-acid batteries used in the late 19th Century to the 2010s, to lithium-ion batteries which are found in most EVs today. The overall battery is referred to as a battery pack, which is a group of multiple battery modules and cells. The battery pack powering modern EVs can have as little as 96 battery cells to as many as 2,976 cells. Electric cars have traditionally used series wound DC motors, a