Battery (electricity)

A galvanic cell is an electrochemical cell that stores chemical energy and makes it available in an electrical form, and a battery is a string of two or more cells in series. Other types of electrochemical cell include electrolytic cells, fuel cells, flow cells, or voltaic cells.

Though an early form of battery may have been used in antiquity (the Baghdad Battery), the development of modern batteries started with the Voltaic pile, invented by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta in 1800. According to a 2005 estimate, the worldwide battery industry generates US$48 billion in sales annually.

Formally, an electrical "battery" is a series-connected array of similar voltaic cells ("cells"). However, in many contexts it is common to call a single cell a battery.