Electrification of Transportation Again?

Deck: 

Back to the Future

PUF 2.0 - September 15, 2017

Electric utilities may come full circle when it comes to electric transportation, if they move into providing infrastructure support for electric vehicles in a big way. Few people today know that the many early electric utilities based their business models not just on the future of electric lighting but also on expectations of growth in electric transportation.

This second revenue source was from new transportation services provided by the operation of urban electric street car systems. Thus, early electric industry investors were offered the twin opportunities of investing in the new electric transportation systems as well as in electric lighting.

The names of the new companies frequently reflected this duality of services. The Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company (established 1896), Greater Lynchburg Traction & Light Company (1901), and Portland Railway Light & Power Company (1906) are a few examples of the names from the beginning of the last century. The newly formed electric companies replaced existing municipal horse-drawn trolley systems with cheaper and cleaner electric-powered trolleys.

This early form of electric transportation was a success.

It lasted longer than electric automobiles, because electric trolleys avoided the problem of inadequate energy from batteries. Rather than relying on batteries, electric trolleys received their energy from the new electric grid.

The electric power was supplied to the trolleys using the new overhead lines. They were connected to the moving trolleys with an 1885 patented spring-connected pole system invented by Frank J. Sprague. The power flow was reliable and continuous as long as the spring-pole was in contact with the overhead conductor.

The new systems cost much less than the horse-drawn predecessor system. The speed of the new technology adaption was startling, even by today's standards. It was reported that most cities started replacing their horse-drawn systems within a year after the introduction of the spring-pole overhead conductor system.

The new, clean and convenient electric trolleys became a major mode of weekday commuter transportation in many cities. The trolleys also helped balance the load on the electric systems, because they were used during different hours from the dominant electric lighting load.

When a problem was caused by a drop in trolley passenger load during the weekends, electric system operators came up with ideas to build weekend load. For example, some electric companies would connect to a fairground. The old Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company (now WEC Energy Group Inc.) supported a lakeshore amusement park in the Village of Whitefish Bay at the northern end of the suburban line.

By the way, if you visit the headquarters Public Service Building of WEC Energy Group Inc. at 231 W. Michigan Street in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, you will notice the large service doors and high ceilings of the first floor, demonstrating the dual service offerings of the original company.

When built in 1912, the building's large entrances allowed electric trolleys to enter on the street level for service and maintenance.

Even with two new services, electric industry investors and company executives were cognizant that the electric transportation business and even maybe the electric light service business were risky endeavors. There was the possibility that they might be replaced by newer technologies.

To partially hedge the risk that neither electric traction nor electric light service would survive, the founders of the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Company took an unusual step. In 1903, they directed that their new Public Service Building be designed with numerous extra doors and windows so that it could be easily converted to a hotel, just in case.

Who would do that today?