diff --git a/googleapiclient/http.py b/googleapiclient/http.py
index 5181bad..d22313f 100644
--- a/googleapiclient/http.py
+++ b/googleapiclient/http.py
@@ -1394,6 +1394,14 @@
     if http is None:
       raise ValueError("Missing a valid http object.")
 
+    # Special case for OAuth2Credentials-style objects which have not yet been
+    # refreshed with an initial access_token.
+    if getattr(http.request, 'credentials', None) is not None:
+      creds = http.request.credentials
+      if not getattr(creds, 'access_token', None):
+        LOGGER.info('Attempting refresh to obtain initial access_token')
+        creds.refresh(http)
+
     self._execute(http, self._order, self._requests)
 
     # Loop over all the requests and check for 401s. For each 401 request the
diff --git a/tests/test_http.py b/tests/test_http.py
index 0845047..1cca7c6 100644
--- a/tests/test_http.py
+++ b/tests/test_http.py
@@ -1072,6 +1072,34 @@
       header = parts[1].splitlines()[1]
       self.assertEqual('Content-Type: application/http', header)
 
+  def test_execute_initial_refresh_oauth2(self):
+    batch = BatchHttpRequest()
+    callbacks = Callbacks()
+    cred = MockCredentials('Foo')
+
+    # Pretend this is a OAuth2Credentials object
+    cred.access_token = None
+
+    http = HttpMockSequence([
+      ({'status': '200',
+        'content-type': 'multipart/mixed; boundary="batch_foobarbaz"'},
+       BATCH_SINGLE_RESPONSE),
+    ])
+
+    cred.authorize(http)
+
+    batch.add(self.request1, callback=callbacks.f)
+    batch.execute(http=http)
+
+    self.assertEqual({'foo': 42}, callbacks.responses['1'])
+    self.assertIsNone(callbacks.exceptions['1'])
+
+    self.assertEqual(1, cred._refreshed)
+
+    self.assertEqual(1, cred._authorized)
+
+    self.assertEqual(1, cred._applied)
+
   def test_execute_refresh_and_retry_on_401(self):
     batch = BatchHttpRequest()
     callbacks = Callbacks()