It appears that batteries are not currently spawning in .57 Stable. I asked on the official forums as well as everyone's favorite subreddit, and no one else seems to have had any luck, either.
I don't recall seeing batteries spawning in the last several weeks of Experimental patches, either (except for the freshie battery, of course).
Since the freshie kit no longer includes a battery, this renders all battery-operated devices in the game useless.
Look for a battery. Fail to find one, forever.
same here, didn't see one yet. But a friend told me he saw one. So eventually they are really low in spawning.
@mist3r, thank you for adding your experience, and not to insult your friend but I think at this point I'd need to see proof that a battery was found in 0.57. And even if he did find one, I'd agree that the spawn rate is obscenely low and will hopefully be reevaluated.
So far I have no reason to believe any of the following spawn: