I have located and purchased what is perhaps the oldest catalogue of electric cars, dating from 1899.
So it's 126 years old!
Of the many new car brands that emerged in France at the turn of the century – between 1897 and 1902 – one of the least known today was C.F.V.E., or Compagnie Française Voitures Electromobiles, based at 20 Rue Taitbout in Paris. This company existed between 1898 and 1901 and offered electric vehicles with the drive train either on the front or rear axle, known as the ‘avant-train’ or ‘arrière-train’.
In its introduction, the company emphasised that the new ‘petrol’ vehicles could never meet the demands of urban service, i.e. driving within cities. The only vehicle suitable for these tasks was (and is) the electric vehicle.
But the press at the time, such as the book ‘Voitures Automobiles - Voitures Electriques’ Volume 4eme by E. Bernard y Cie de Paris - a book dating from the same year as the catalogue - pointed out that the use of electric vehicles also required considerable knowledge, especially at a time when both petrol and electric cars were new fields. Electric cars required not only mechanical knowledge, but also knowledge of electricity and how it works.
Let's return to the 1899 catalogue. It is an ‘album illustré’ that includes large images of four models, including a taxi version in the style of London's Bersey taxis, which served as an example, and a van version, as necessary then as it is today. The catalogue is a real museum piece and would look great in any exhibition on the history of the electric car. It is one of many vintage catalogues that Prestige Electric Car keeps in its large document archive, but it is the oldest.
