Editorial: The Importance of an Electric Car Class at a Concours d’Elegance

by Wallace Wyss –

Which concours? The fanciest one in the US — Pebble Beach. In the concours 2021 event they plan to have one, a class for electric cars.

I don’t know how far in the past it will go but presumably some very early ones like the Baker Electric. I feel this is good timing for Pebble Beach because automakers all over the world are announcing a cut off date for internal combustion engines, shoving over 100 years of hard work off the table.

I presume they will still show internal combustion cars at concours in 2035 but it’s time to now start educating everybody about how far electric cars had come before they were “drowned out” by internal combustion engine cars in the auto industry’s early years.

Thomas Edison with his first electric car, the Edison Baker. He is holding one of the batteries used to power the vehicle. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

Now at least at this concours there will be some filling in of the background of early efforts in electrics. I hope they will include electric efforts from abroad. And maybe on the perimeter have tents for automakers to show the latest prototype for upcoming electric cars. These tents could cost the automakers money and add to the kitty, which might be suffering if a lot of the old crowd is still avoiding gatherings then.

1906, Manhattan, New York City — Electric cars of the New York Edison Company. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is the author of 18 car books whose commentary on classics can be heard on Autotalk, a radio show. Currently he is a fine artist doing portraits of collectible cars in oil.

 

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Article Name

Editorial: The Importance of an Electric Car Class at a Concours d'Elegance

Description

The Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance plans to have a class for electric cars in August 2021.

Author

Wallace Wyss