The battery: an essential electrical energy storage

A battery is a set of electrical accumulators capable of storing electrical energy in chemical form. By assembling several accumulators, one can adjust the capacity (amount of stored energy) and the voltage (electrical tension) of the battery to achieve power suitable for the desired use.

Batteries are ubiquitous: they equip domestic devices (phones, laptops), vehicles (electric cars, bikes, scooters), and stationary storage systems (solar energy, generators).

There is a wide variety of battery technologies, each suited to specific uses, with different characteristics in terms of autonomy, power, lifespan, and cost.

The two main characteristics of a battery are:

• voltage (in Volts, V), which corresponds to the electrical tension provided,

• capacity (in Ampere-hour, Ah), which represents the amount of electrical charge the battery can deliver in one hour.