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
NZR RM class (Edison battery-electric) NZR RM class (Edison battery-electric) The NZR RM class Edison battery-electric railcar was a popular and successful railcar that ran in Canterbury, New Zealand for eight years. The prototype, RM 6, was arguably the first successful railcar in New Zealand, but the type was not developed into a class. The railcar had a wheel arrangement of Bo-Bo under the UIC classification system, weighed , had driving controls at each end, and with an engine output of , it travelled comfortably at . In appearance, it looked like a cross between a regular railway passenger carriage and a tram; side-on, it