gone electric

13:30 Sep 4, 2017 

This is All the Light We Cannot See, a masterpiece by Anthony Doerr. I think he can be allowed a little experimentation with language.
I don't know what "gone electric" means, but Werner is on military service dreaming about his childhood home.

10:24 Sep 4, 2017 

Werner is in a shell of a truck, with four other asleep people, He is listening to music on a radio, and he sees his sister and Frau Elena in his mind :-)

10:13 Sep 4, 2017 

Definitely figurative use then, but what a confusing piece of writing. Who does the first 'he' refer to? In grammatical terms it ought to be Volkheimer, but he's got his eyes closed, and the 'he and Volkheimer' shows that it has to refer to Werner in that line. Then there's 'Frau Elena kneading bread in the
background, a crystal radio in his lap'. His? Rewrite needed!

09:51 Sep 4, 2017 

Yes Sheila, I am sorry, and here is some more:
"Just behind Werner, Volkheimer’s eyelids remain closed. Through
the separator between the shell and cab, he can see the motionless
shoulders of the Neumanns. Werner covers the meter with his hand.
The song unspools, grows louder, and he waits for Bernd to key his
microphone, to say he has heard.
But nothing comes. Everyone is asleep. And yet hasn’t the little shell
in which he and Volkheimer sit gone electric?
Now the piano makes a long, familiar run, the pianist playing different
scales with each hand—what sounds like three hands, four—the
harmonies like steadily thickening pearls on a strand, and Werner sees
six-year-old Jutta lean toward him, Frau Elena kneading bread in the
background, a crystal radio in his lap, the cords of his soul not yet
severed."

09:39 Sep 4, 2017 

I see you think it may not be being used in its literal sense. But that's all we can give you with those few words. If you want us to examine whether it could be being used metaphorically, you'll have to share more context. Why should/could it be about atmosphere in this case?