The primary drawback with the Edison direct current system was that it ran at 110 volts from generation to its final destination giving it a relatively short useful transmission range: to keep the size of the expensive copper conductors down generating plants had to be situated in the middle of population centers and could only supply customers less than a mile from the plant.
O principal inconveniente do sistema de Edison era que a corrente circulaba a 110 voltios desde a xeración até o seu destino final, o que lle daba un alcance de transmisión relativamente curto: para manter o tamaño dos caros condutores de cobre procedentes de plántalas xeradoras, estas tiñan que estar situadas no medio dos centros de poboación, e só podían abastecer aos clientes a menos de 1,6 km da planta.