It's really the 1850's when you think about it.

Transformers were all there was before the Edison Effect was discovered and vacuum tubes were developed.

A lot can be accomplished with just copper and iron and its always been expensive and heavy, sometimes like a baseline for cost.

By comparison alternative systems can be much more complex with way more points of failure if they can just beat that cost to a certain extent.

There's more proven technology on the trailing edge than the leading edge can be expected to provide.

In one person's lifetime there always exists more forgotten technologies of the ages than truly novel technologies that can be developed over a single career.

It could be worthwhile to try and balance the creation of new technologies with the preservation of technologies at risk of loss.

Funnily enough, the "Edison" effect was originally discovered in the 1850s. It got rediscovered approximately every ten years after that.