Technological Lock-In
(Redirected from Technological Lock-Down)
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
