The meanings of “electric”, “electrical”, and “electronic” often overlap, but the three adjectives are not completely interchangeable. The easiest case to deal with is electronic, which was originally defined as follows:
We can speak of electronic equipment, electronic components, electronic computers (a term falling into disuse due to the fact that all modern computers are electronic), and other electronic devices. In modern usage, anything that has an “electronic version” (i.e. a version for electronic devices) and was originally done or produced without the use of electronic devices can be described as being “electronic” itself (with “electronic” often abbreviated as “e”), for example,
The words “electric” and “electrical” have an overlapping meaning:
It is possible to use “electrical current” as well as “electric current”, “electrical power” as well as “electric power”, etc. However, when referring to a particular device that is based on turning electricity into another form of energy, the preferred form is “electric”:
Somewhat surprisingly, when speaking about unspecified devices or something only related to electricity, most speakers use the adjective “electrical” instead:
In most of these, “electronic” would also work, but it would carry a different meaning. For instance, a smartphone and a laptop could be described as electronic devices, whereas most people would call electric drills, toasters, and similar “primitive” tools electrical devices
Finally, only the word “electric” (not “electrical”) can be used metaphorically as a synonym for “exciting”, as in