Quick facts about batteries

• The first battery was created by Italian Alessandro Volta in 1800.
• A battery is a device that converts chemical energy directly to electrical energy.
• The world's largest battery is in Fairbanks, Alaska, composed of Ni-Cd cells.
• Lead-acid batteries use over 80% of the lead produced in the United States.
• There are 2 types of batteries: primary batteries, which are designed to be used once and discarded when they are exhausted, and secondary batteries, which are designed to be recharged and used multiple times.
• The energy used to manufacture rechargeable and single-use batteries is fifty times greater than the electrical energy they produce when been discharged.
• Sodium-sulfur batteries are being used to store wind power.
• About 60% of the world’s lead comes from recycled car batteries.
• The single largest source of mercury metal is found in household batteries.
• Car batteries have the highest recycling rate out of all recycled materials.
• Even if never taken out of the original package, disposable batteries can lose eight to twenty percent of their original charge every year at a temperature of about 20°–30°C.
• One NiCad mobile phone is enough to pollute 600,000 litres of water.
• Few car batteries last beyond 6 years of regular use.
• Battery life can be extended by storing the batteries at a low temperature, as in a refrigerator or freezer, which slows the chemical reactions in the battery.