Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
As an energy reporter on the Business desk of The New York Times, I often cover the transition to electrify the world around us, including automobiles and heating and cooling systems.
But until I spoke with the historian at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, I did not know that electric cars rattled down city streets as far back as the mid-1890s. A century ago, roughly a third of taxi drivers in New York City shuttled passengers around in electric cars.
I set out to write an article about these cars, and a time before lawmakers gave deference to the oil industry by offering numerous tax breaks, paving the way for gasoline-powered vehicles. But finding an original E.V. that I could ride in proved difficult. Most of them sit in museums and personal collections.
Enter the comedian — and car collector — Jay Leno.
My editor suggested I reach out to Mr. Leno after learning about his 1909 Baker Electric, housed in his famous garage. Mr. Leno’s team gave an enthusiastic “Yes” in reply.
When I arrived at his warehouse garage in Burbank, Calif., in April, Mr. Leno had his Baker Electric charged and ready to hit the streets. The 116-year-old car, which had been refurbished, looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor.
Still, the wooden high-top body, 36-inch rubber wheels and Victorian-style upholstery whispered the car’s age. It was basically a carriage with batteries, enabling drivers to free horses from their bits and harnesses.
The car seats three comfortably, four with knees touching. Passengers sit on one of two cushioned benches that face each other. The drapes at the windows and on the two doors give the car the feel of a breakfast nook.
Automakers marketed the Baker Electric to women, generally wealthy ones. The typical person could not afford such luxury.
Mr. Leno highlights this fact on the walls of his garage with enlarged versions of old advertisements. One prods men to “Make This the Happiest Christmas — Give Your Wife an Electric.” In another, a woman pleads, “Daddy Get Me a Baker.”
Wealth wasn’t required just to buy the car, which carried a sticker price more than most houses of the time. The buyer also needed money for the home charger, which didn’t do much good if the driver lacked electricity at home. And electricity was as much an extravagance as the car and charger themselves.
After Mr. Leno pulled a latch on the interior of the car door and gave it a push, I stepped up into the electric carriage, sitting so that I faced the former host of “The Tonight Show,” with my back to the road ahead of us. He operated the tiller, a kind of joystick-like control used to steer the car.
“I mean, this is actually a nice way to travel,” Mr. Leno said.
We rolled out of his garage and onto the street, immediately drawing smiles from onlookers. Some turned their heads to the sound of the ringing bell that made for the vehicle’s horn.
The ride was relatively smooth, though the car’s suspension could not absorb any significant dips or bumps in the road. We cruised a couple of times around the block, backing up every once in a while so that Maggie Shannon, a freelance photographer for The Times, could take photographs.
For a century-old vehicle, the Baker Electric performs pretty well. It can hit about 25 miles per hour, the maximum speed for some of the neighborhood streets, and with an 80-mile range on a full charge, it fares almost as well as some modern E.V.s.
The only thing seemingly missing was a system to provide some mood music. “You asked about entertainment?” Mr. Leno said.
In his garage, Mr. Leno opened a case roughly the size of a small shoe box to reveal a tiny, portable Victrola record player that could have easily fit on the bench beside me in the car. Early car players and radios, Mr. Leno said, gave way to the name Motorola — a combination of Motor and Victrola.
Playing on Mr. Leno’s Victrola in the open air of his garage: “Dupree Shake Dance” from 1941, a song by the blues and boogie-woogie pianist Champion Jack Dupree.
At least once a year, Mr. Leno and his wife cruise around town in his Baker Electric, typically to enjoy holiday lights and decorations. Of his many automobiles, including more modern E.V.s such as a Tesla, the Baker is one of his favorites.
For me, the ride along was Christmas in April.
Ivan Penn is a reporter based in Los Angeles and covers the energy industry. His work has included reporting on clean energy, failures in the electric grid and the economics of utility services.
The post On a Search for an Old E.V., Jay Leno’s Car Obsession Came Up Clutch appeared first on New York Times.
