History of Battery – Introduction, and Size

We all have and love batteries, right? They are one of the most important human inventions in the world today. We have so many portable electric gadgets thanks to this amazing invention.

But have you ever wondered how batteries were invented? Many people are end-users who only know they need?a battery in their devices; anything else beyond that does not raise any interest. But if you are a keen fellow, you may want to know the history of the battery.

Luckily, we have all outlined it here. We will be describing the brief history of batteries, EVs, and battery sizes. Keep reading.

Battery History

Our focus today is on EVs, battery size, and battery management systems. But we cannot do much of that without considering the history of batteries. After all, it would be hard to have EVs without battery power.

Batteries are used as the best portable source of power. In the past, they were used as a source of electricity only. So, as you can imagine, batteries were really cumbersome. But thanks to modern inventions, we have them in the most portable forms.

Here is a brief breakdown of its history:

The first battery. The earliest battery dates back as early as the 1740s. Many experts have a view that batteries may have been invented more than 2,000 years ago. A group of archeologists discovered some terracotta jars in Khujut Rabu in Bangladesh. The jars were filled with sheets of copper in a rolled iron rod. This may have been evidence of battery technology.

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Frog legs and electrical power. Luigi Calvani, an Italian physicist, may have sired the idea of the modern battery. He had once attached frog legs to a brass hook using an iron scalpel, touching the frog legs. When the frog twitched its legs, Luigi had an idea that it could have been due to electrical power.

The voltaic power. Volta continued his research, which led to the creation of the first wet battery in 1800. Hence, the voltaic power became the first true battery capable of a consistent and stable power supply. However, it could not produce power for a long time and had too many flaws that caused short-circuiting.

The Daniell Cell Battery. Later, John Frederic Daniell created the path for overcoming the issues with the Voltaic power. A second electrolyte was used in the Daniel Cell through the first conductor. It contained copper sulfate immersed in unglazed earthenware. That was in 1820.

The porous cell. In 1838, John Dancer made more improvements to the battery with the porous pot cell, an instrument maker from Liverpool. The battery had the Daniel Design but with a central zinc anode in an earthenware vessel carrying a zinc sulfate solution.

Lead acid batteries. All the batteries mentioned before were primary, which means they were used once, and all the chemical reactions were spent. In 1859, Gaston Plante solved this issue by creating the first rechargeable battery. And that is when the lead acid battery was born.

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Carbon-zinc battery. In 1866m the Leclanche cell was invented, containing a zinc anode and a manganese dioxide cathode inside a porous vessel. Leclanche later improved the battery using a pastier electrolyte, creating the first dry cell.

The Nickel-cadmium battery. In 1899, Waldermar Jungner, a Swedish scientist, invented the nickel-cadmium battery, a secondary cell containing nickel and cadmium electrolytes.

The Edison Battery. In 1903, Thomas Edison improved on the NiCd design above, using iron as the anode and nickel oxide as the cathode.

Alkaline batteries: In 1955, alkaline batteries were invented as an alternative to zinc-carbon batteries. They offered better performance and hence became more preferred.

Lithium and lithium-ion batteries. The idea of lithium-based batteries started in 1912, but it was not until 1991 that these batteries were commercialized. They are the best technology today.

As you can see, batteries have a very long history. Today, we have more advanced chemistries like lithium polymer batteries. More inventions are set to come up as the years go by.

History of Battery Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles seem very modern. But do you know their history dates back as early as 1830? This was when Scotland's Robert Anderson used galvanized cells in his carriage. These batteries were not rechargeable yet, as you have seen from the history above. Rechargeable batteries were later invented in 1859, creating a bigger chance for the growth of this idea.

Thomas Parker, an inventor, was part of the team that deployed electric-powered carts in 1884, and then William Morrison applied the ideas to build another prototype in 1887. The vehicle had 24 batteries with four horsepower performance.

Inventions in the automotive industry became more rampant in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Cars were still too expensive for more people to afford. Then Ransom Eli Olds built a short run of electric horseless carriages before creating the market for Oldsmobile cars – which are now on display in a Michigan Museum.

The first Fort Model T was invented in 1908, then then it was improved between 1908 and 1914. This idea has been growing stronger since, until now, we have so many powerful EVs on the market.

History of Battery Size

Batteries store electrical energy in a chemical form. Inventors would need to develop a battery for any device that would come along since larger devices needed more power and so on.

In 1924, the designer decided to come up with standard sizes that would cater to most needs. And that is where A, B, C, D, and E batteries were born. This worked fine for some time, but the need for smaller batteries grew. After WWIII, AA and AAA battery size was added to the list. Other sizes have since come up in different areas bearing different names.

History of Battery Management System

The BMS is a computerized system that manages rechargeable batteries. It's hard to imagine using high-end batteries without this technology. The idea can be traced back to 2006 when the lithium balance A/S was founded to develop a BMS for lithium batteries.

Today, there have been more improvements to make the system work better. It can manage how the battery works and resolve any internal issues that may arise. Thus, modern batteries are much safer.