Henschel (Berlin)

Berliner Maschinenfabrik Henschel & Co. began at Schillerstraße 97 in Charlottenburg in 1899, entirely separate from the better-known Henschel & Sohn locomotive and truck concern at Kassel. Its broad opening program covered machinery, petrol and electric road vehicles, motor tricycles and motorboats. Henschel placed Berlin's first documented electric taxi in service and displayed electric passenger and public-service vehicles at the 1899 motor exhibition. Contemporary 1900 reporting identified an elegant Mylord public cab, a quiet three-seat Phaeton, two delivery-van forms and a furniture van. The road vehicles used easily exchanged accumulator boxes, centralized control and a patented flexible-shaft system that carried power to the rear wheels without a conventional differential; existing horse-drawn vehicles could also be converted. The company became Elektromobil- und Maschinenfabrik Henschel in 1906. Passenger-car production is documented only for 1899–1906, while electric trucks—especially municipal vehicles with twin rear motors and regenerative emergency braking—continued in greater numbers into the First World War. Elite-Werke acquired the business in 1918 and used the Berlin facilities as a repair shop and charging station. The catalog uses Henschel (Berlin) to prevent confusion with Kassel Henschel vehicles and retains four evidenced passenger-carrying types without promoting delivery bodies, boats or later Elite products to Henschel car models.

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