The idea of an electric car did not start with Toyota or Tesla. Werner von Siemens, founder of what is now Siemens AG, the technological juggernaut of Germany, made an electric car in 1905. And before him, there was Ferdinand Porsche with an electric car in 1900. Who knew?
So, what happened? Why are Ferdinand and Werner, rather than Elon, not the names associated with electric vehicles?
Siemens was having its 175th birthday party and engineering.com was invited. We heard of how Siemens has always been about electrification. The company’s list of inventions certainly bears proof: electrical lighting, the dynamo, the electric streetcar, electric power stations, X-ray systems and more.
Werner von Siemens, the founder of Siemens AG, the multinational company headquartered in Berlin, was a pioneer in the application of electricity. We learn this as we stroll through the archives, led by historian Claudia Salchov. We see the documents. Siemens has created its own museum of history, with literally tons of documents, miles of shelves, several rooms in Siemensstadt, aka Siemens City, a 600-million euro venture in urban planning and its corporate headquarters. We see the white glove handling of the original letter of incorporation of Siemens. It’s a handwritten letter in German. We are not allowed to take pictures.
We are one of two U.S. publications invited to the event, part of a 50+ contingent of media assembled from all over the world to celebrate Siemens’ 175th anniversary. It is a once-in-a-lifetime event, even to a world-weary journalist. We are served lobster, the finest Riesling. We hear from the chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, and the head of Siemens AG himself, Roland Busch.
Siemens City has shown us what good can come from careful corporate planning. As part of Berlin, it is a city within a city. It is a carbon-neutral, ecologically sound construct that welcomes all Berliners (not just Siemen employees) 73 hectares within Berlin, serving as a model for smart cities elsewhere and employing the technological, environmental and social leadership of the new Siemens under its latest CEO Roland Busch. Siemens City embodies a spirit of social responsibility that is not only in keeping with the best of today’s corporate practice but also serves to make up for past sins.
A company that is 175 years old, one that has survived the darkest of times in modern history—that of the Third Reich—must have stories to tell, and indeed Siemens does. To its credit, the company has put the heir to Werner von Siemens, Nathalie von Siemens, on its board of directors. Nathalie acknowledges Ravensbruck, the notorious Nazi women’s concentration camp, from which Siemens obtained slave labor. As if to say that only by acknowledging the past can one rise above it.
Also present at the anniversary event was Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz. We will never again succumb to evil, implied Scholz in his speech, where he vilified Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine and its punitive measures in cutting off Germany’s energy sources. Scholz is in favor of national energy independence. He counts on Siemens, a pioneer in electrification and a world leader in technology, to provide solutions for an independent Germany.