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 RB 46), nowadays the "Glückauf-Bahn" from Gelsenkirchen via Wanne-Eickel to Bochum. In the 1930s an experimental battery electric train ran successfully at Bray. The train's batteries were charged at each station via an overhead pickup. The train reached 60 mph. In Japan, JR East tested a "NE Train Smart Denchi-kun" battery electric railcar from 2009. This vehicle is capable of operating under 1,500 V DC overhead wires or on battery power alone for a distance of up to 50 km away from an overhead power supply. The batteries are charged via the pantograph either when running under an overhead electric