![Electric tram in Montreux around 1890.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektrisches-tram-in-montreux-um-1890-300x225.jpg)
Electrification 2.0
In Switzerland, as elsewhere, climate change is forcing a rapid switch to renewable energies. The trend is called ‘electric’ and its advent harks back to the age of electrification, which in Switzerland occurred very early on, at the end of 19th century. Are there parallels to that era? Are we currently experiencing Electrification 2.0?
![Cars, horses and (electric) trams jostle for space on the Bahnhofplatz in Zurich, around 1930.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bahnhofplatz-in-zurich-um-1930-dig-3601-lm-81121-300x221.jpg)
![Railcar No 2 of the Viznau-Rigi Railway dating from 1937, the year the railway was electrified, photographed around 1990.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/viznau-rigi-bahn-300x200.jpg)
![Electric multiple unit BCFe 4/4, No 18 of the Centovalli Railway passes the parish church of Tegna on 24 August 1925.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/centovalli-bahn-tegna-300x218.jpg)
![On the Zurich Seebach-Wettingen test track, the company Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon (MFO) used the Ce 4/4 II locomotive to test electrical operation with single-phase alternating current.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/versuchsstrecke-sbb-1905-300x150.jpg)
![Car at a petrol station, between 1950 and 1960.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/auto-an-einer-tankstelle-zwischen-1950-und-1960-dig-5520-lm-9156965-300x300.jpg)
![Solar-powered vehicle built and driven by Wolfgang Schleich. Schleich and this vehicle took third place at the first Tour de Sol in 1985.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/solarmobil-von-wolfgang-schleich-dig-2391-lm-841721-4-300x214.jpg)
![Participants in the Tour de Sol on 27 June 1985.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/teilnehmer-der-tour-de-sol-am-27-juni-1985-300x200.jpg)
![During the Second World War, when fuel was rationed, there was a flourishing electric vehicle sector. This photo of an electrically powered commercial vehicle was taken in October 1941 at an exhibition of alternative products.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/elektrofahrzeug-1941-roh-2729-lm-1178675-284x300.jpg)
![A pressure tube being hauled up the mountain for the construction of the hydropower plant at Ackersand, Valais, around 1922.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bau-des-kraftwerks-im-ackersand-dig-6086-lm-11254748-224x300.jpg)
![Construction of the Grande Dixence dam between 1905 and 1961.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bau-des-staudamms-grand-dixence-zwischen-1905-und-1961-gbe-93124-lm-816431-300x212.jpg)