Live Steam was a good idea over a century ago. Some of the equipment design was amazing for that age.
My grandfather ran the last thrasher that was run in this county. It was in a year when the wheat fell and they had to bundle it and thrash it to save the grain.
Combines are still amazing machines to watch in use.
So are cotton pickers.
Electric cars have never been a success. Not from the beginning.
But diesel powered electric generators have powered the electric drive systems for Euclid Truck have been a reliable way to haul ore from mines for a long time. Good friend of mine was the machine shop foreman at Kennecott Copper at the Santa Rita Mine in NM (they sold it). He was great at repairing them.
https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/new-mexico/chino-mine-santa-rita-nm/
not even then