The Electric Car and the Burden of History: Studies in Automotive Systems Rivalry in America, 1890-1996

This dissertation explores the path dependent process by which internal combustion emerged at the turn of the century as the automotive technological standard. Could an alternative to internal combustion i.e., the electric vehicle have become the technological standard for the Automobile Age? Drawing upon methods and theoretical insights from histoxT, economics, and environmental studies, the dissertation suggests hat alternative technological pathways existed, but only for a brief period of time before 1902. During this window of oppommity, fledgling electric and, to a lesser extent, steam vehicles might have played an important enough role in the automotive system to have precluded the total dominance of the gasoline automobile. But this did not happen, and as the gasoline-based system expanded in scope and scale, alternatives to internal combustion were increasingly destined to fail. First, a disclaimer: this work does not purport o be "The Histox T of the Electric Vehicle." Postmodern theour aside, the existing literature on the histox T of the automobile and of electricity is too vast and the range of actors and events too great to hope for a comprehensive narrative. Rather, drawing upon methodological developments in the histox T of large-scale t chnological systems and the economics of technological change, I have identified a series of potential "turning points" in the evolution of the standard American car, points at which the vex T substance of the artifact was being contested. From complex cultural and institutional questions i.e., Would the American car be privately owned, operated, and maintained, or would motor transport service be provided by hixed drivers, livery owners, and fleet operators? to seemingly straight-forward matters of standardization i.e., Would Americans drive on the right or the left side of the road? these issues were decisive inestablishing the configuration of the early American automobile system. Due to the interactions of multiple, independent users and consumers so-called network extemalities these tum-of-the-century decisions resulted in a path-dependent