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 Merseyrail Wirral Line and extend into the underground section of Liverpool's city centre. The line is diesel train operated unable to progress into the electric 3rd rail underground Birkenhead and Liverpool Merseyrail tunnels. The diesel operated line terminates at Bidston railway station in Birkenhead, with passengers having to change trains at Bidston to proceed onto the Merseyrail electric network. Network Rail proposed using dual battery powered/3rd rail pickup rolling stock without full electrification of the 27 mile long line, providing a cheaper method of increasing connectivity into the electrified underground sections of the Birkenhead and Liverpool Merseyrail Wirral Line. If