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?o, 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.