History of the battery his iron scalpel, the leg twitched. Galvani believed the energy that drove this contraction came from the leg itself, and called it "animal electricity". However, Alessandro Volta, a friend and fellow scientist, disagreed, believing this phenomenon was caused by two different metals joined together by a moist intermediary. He verified this hypothesis through experiment, and published the results in 1791. In 1800, Volta invented the first true battery, which came to be known as the voltaic pile. The voltaic pile consisted of pairs of copper and zinc discs piled on top of each other, separated by a layer of cloth
NZR RM class (Edison battery-electric) looked like a passenger carriage, but each end resembled the front of a tram from that era. The body was built by Boon & Stevens, the noted tram-car builders of Christchurch, in 1926, and equipped with Edison battery-electric equipment. Capable of carrying about 70 passengers, with 60 seated, and a separate smoking compartment, the railcar had a range of about on one battery (charge). Apparently, a layover of about 4 hours was needed to recharge the battery. When introduced the railcar was billed as capable of being used on the Christchurch-Little River and Christchurch-Rangiora runs as well as being available