As early as in 1893 the first electric trolley boat operated on the Erie Canal. Throughout the next two decades various tests with so-called ‘electric-mule’ systems were carried out on short sections of the canal. The vision behind these experiments was a complete electrification of the navigation on the Erie Canal making transportation so efficient, that even the old Erie Canal would have allowed for transportation volumes that ultimately caused the construction of the New York State Barge Canal. The lecture will introduce the history of electric propulsion and electric hauling trials on the Erie Canal and discuss why they remained on an experimental stage, while comparable systems in Europe reached full commercial implementation. This talk will be presented by Dr. Ingo Heidbrink, Professor of Maritime History at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. He is an internationally renowned maritime historian, specialist for inland waterway history, and holds a master’s and engineer’s license for commercial inland waterway navigation on European waterways.