The Car of the Year designation bestowed by automotive magazines feels just as anachronistic as beauty queens or the Man of the Year title that the Time awarded before they discovered that women are people, too. But this year and last year the car of the year has been electric, a fact that urban planners need to pay attention to, no matter that the car in general has long been pushed from its pedestal as the sole driver of development supremely shaping everything in its path. Cities need to prepare better for electric cars.

Car of the Year 2017: An all electric Tesla 3 (Photo: Automobile)

The magazine Automobile gave the crown of Car of the Year to the Tesla model 3, a nod to hipsters and tycoons alike and a nod to a hyped brand whose stock value is higher than that of General Motors. The Tesla legend has reached new heights since February 6 when a Tesla Roadster began navigating through space atop SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket. A feat that is derided as the ultimate obscene stunt by jaded moralists and as an incredible achievement by optimistic technophiles. The electric car certainly has reached new frontiers, but in its standard habitat it is strangely hobbled.

A Tesla Roadster in space

And that is not because the cars themselves don't measure up.
Just read what Automobile journalist Robert Cumberford writes about his Car of the Year choice:

For several years now I've said the Tesla Model S is the best sedan I've ever driven. That's no longer true. It's not that I found recent Mercedes-Benz S-Class or Rolls-Royce sedans superior. Rather, I've done a few miles in the Model 3, which now holds