ABSTRACT
The history of automobile electrical systems starting a century ago divides into low power, a few kilowatts, and high power, tens of kilowatts (Figure 14.1). The years for the introduction of two different transistors are shown on the dateline. The historical landmarks for conventional, low-power systems are divided into starter and generator. Solid-state physics and the diodes made possible the alternator in the early 1960s. With the aid of solid-state physics, an irritating, costly, maintenance problem was overcome when the old generator was replaced by the alternator. Commutators of DC generators failed often. Hybrids today would not be possible without the advances in solid-state physics.
