With so many horses in big cities, there came to be a horse manure glut. The amount of horsemanire is so large that the price collapses. New york had some 200 thousand horses, each one producing about 24 pounds of manure a day. It was smelly and disgusting and it was a public health hazard. In fact, railways make it worse. Because the easier it is to move goods and people between cities, the more demand there is for horseless carriage vehicles.
After a huge false start, electric cars are finally about to flourish. We speak with a technology historian about this all-too-common story, and what it means for innovation everywhere.