Re: "we can't just ignore major blockers to uptake."
"When petrol engines first arrived they were inconvenient - far easier to take a horse."That quickly changed when they found a car didn't get distracted or spooked, plus it required much less maintenance (horses have to eat even when they're not being used, cars less so--then there's the other end, recall one of the Labors of Hercules).
Horses never require as much maintenance as a car. They can be self-fuelling, have a will-to-live (though that doesn't always carry over to their rider!), and have internal maintenance and repair systems that only an exceptional intelligence could've dreamed up or built.
Leave a car with a full tank parked up for a while in warm enough weather and you'll tend to get the fuel either evaporating or 'going off' ie breaking down and fouling carbs/injection systems and the like. This isn't always the case, I have known cars with 5 or 6 year old petrol in the tanks to still start and run (though not perfectly as the fuel did lose some of it's key bangmakerjuice).
A horse cannot do the same range as a modern car, but it can fuel itself without operator intervention, and it can find its way home without swerving off the road/under trucks etc. Oh, and their emissions are actually quite good for the environment, especially gardens!
But early cars? I think you were looking at a week's maintenance for every hour's driving! :)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
