Technological Lock-In

Basics

• A characteristic pattern in the history of technology in which one “dominant design” drives out alternatives that would perform the same function.
• To a certain extent is beneficial as it controls Project Creep in development of solutions
• On a broader extent however, it makes the "Dominant Design" often the only profitable solution, due to economies of scale, despite sometimes being less efficient / optimal
• One example is the usage of lithium ion batteries for stationary power storage
  • They are optimized to be lightweight and energy dense
  • The lightweight advantage doesn't matter in stationary situations, thus the main advantage is lost
  • Due to mass production for mobile electronics, they are cheaper that alternatives, despite many issues such as, Thermal Runaway , not scaling well, hazards in production/decomissioning, and raw material supply
• Another example is the reduction in Grid Scale Solar Thermal Power Plants, due to the cost reduction of Photovoltaic Panels, despite the scalability, and Thermal Storage of solar thermal
• The solution seems to be finding a niche, then expanding from there
  • For instance lithium ion batteries started out specifically for handheld electronics, far before being viable for BEVs
• Also research grantes/government insentives play a major role

External Links

• A Video by the Youtube Channel "Real Engineering" on a company developing a "Liquid Metal Battery" that spends a large ammount of time explaining the issue of technological lock-in
• A MIT Energy Initiative Article Summarizing this Issue