Accumulator Works (1899)

Mainstay of the Electrical Industry – Only two years after the power station and AEG Cable Works went into operation in Schöneweide, Ludwig Löwe set up the Accumulator Works. Portable batteries have been produced there ever since. Since 1904 they have been sold under the internationally recognized brand name VARTA, a German acronym that stands for “distribution, recharging, and repair of portable accumulators.” In 1922 the company was acquired by the Quandt conglomerate and developed into Europe’s leading supplier of lead batteries for electric automobiles and airplanes. During WWII the factory produced accumulators for submarines and V2 rockets. Battery production continued seamlessly after 1945 – in East Germany as a “publicly owned enterprise," and after 1993 under the name BAE Batterien.