A lot of trucks have even more available space and headroom for excess weight.

The biggest applications where the volume and weight come into play aren't on the roads.

> The advantage of batteries is that you can manufacture them into any form

Can you really though? For EVs they're all using the classic cylindrical shape as far as I've seen.

You are confusing cells with batteries. A battery is a collection of cells. This difference is rarely important and so few people ever make it. In this context is matters as a EV has many small cells in the battery. You can put those cells anywhere they fit. You can't split an engine up like that. Thus while the battery itself needs more volume and weight than an engine (or at least that is the claim, depending on range desired this might or might not be true), you can put them in empty space where an engine cannot fit.

Its largely Tesla that is using the cylinder shape batteries. It seems to me most of the other manufacturers are using prismatic cells.

Batteries, not cells

Battery.. packs? The cells are the batteries.

It's like conflating gasoline with gasoline tanks.

A battery is a bunch of cells. Etymology is from an earlier meaning, artillery battery (a bunch of cannons together acting as a unit).

battery comes from the verb "to batter", which basically means "to bombard"