After nine years of research and development, Thomas Alva Edison announced that the rechargeable battery was a reality. He showed off his 1.2V E-cells: thin, light, and shiny. Edison had brought about a revolution in the electrochemical sector. It was composed of 120 nickel plates, each 1/25,000 mm thick. Each cell was composed of five negative and four positive plates, insulated with rigid rubber, compressed, and saturated with potassium hydroxide and lithium. The addition of lithium outlasted lithium batteries by 60 years. Edison estimated their lifespan at at least four years, but he was wrong by a factor of 10: working ones would not be found for 45 years! Soon, Edison received huge orders for trucks, taxis, streetcars, and shipping companies. Within a few years, more than half the trucks in the United States were powered by Edison’s battery. A version was even made for submarines. But Edison delayed too long to counter the meteoric popularity of internal combustion vehicles: a year earlier, the Ford Motor Company of Detroit had introduced the low-priced, high-mileage Ford Model T.
