The top of a lead-acid cell electric battery is closed by a plastic closure plate having hingedly coupled thereto a pivotable attachment angularly movable about a horizontal pivot axis through a range of angular position between upright and folded down positions at opposite ends of the range. The attachment consists primarily of a planar plastic board having a cut-out therein. When upright, the board is usable as a handle to lift the battery. When in folded-down position the board overlies the battery terminals, and sections of cable conductors connected to such terminals, to protect the overlain elements. Further, the board is received in a recess in the plate so that the board's upper surface is coplanar and horizontal with the plate's upper surface to the board's rear. Those two surfaces are adapted to share the load of an overlying battery. The described battery further includes strain relief means for the mentioned sections, and it has to its rear a trough which is alignable with the troughs of other similar batteries in a row-column array thereof to form a conduit through the array for cables connected to respective batteries therein.