Photograph, "Replacement and maintenance of the battery on a Bergmann 2t electric mail vehicle in the loading bay at the Berlin posting station"

Since the 1920s, the post office mainly used electric vehicles in local and suburban areas. It was at loading stations like this one, at the Posthalterei Melchiorstrasse 9 in Berlin, where batteries were removed from the vehicles to charge, so that the vehicle could be in constant use. Consequently, emphasis was placed on a quick battery exchange, and the Reichspost’s fleet of electric cars was even equipped with replacement batteries. The delivery vans with a 2.2 ton load capacity had an accumulator consisting of 40 cells in a battery tray, which was suspended under the chassis frame and mounted using a trolley.